Russian businessman Vladislav Kliouchine is accused in the United States of “insider trading involving tens of millions”. Swiss justice ruled in favor of his extradition.
The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has dismissed a Russian businessman’s appeal against his extradition to the United States over a large-scale insider trading case. In a judgment handed down on November 16 and sent to AFP, the federal criminal court also rejects the request for release presented by Vladislav Kliushin.
According to Russian opposition media, Vladislav Kliushin is very close to a senior Kremlin official, Alexeï Gromov, first deputy to the head of the Russian presidential administration. Alexeï Gromov, who was spokesperson for the Kremlin between 2000 and 2008, is notably in charge of the media within the presidential administration.
Vladislav Kliushin argued in his appeal that he was being prosecuted for “political reasons”, hoping to benefit from the fact that Switzerland does not grant extradition for political offenses. But the court said it had no doubts about “the independence of American justice” and rejected its “political offense objection”.
Vladislav Kliouchine is, according to the Federal Office of Justice (OFJ), accused in the United States of “insider trading involving tens of millions of dollars with several accomplices”. He was arrested in the canton of Valais in March.
The businessman, who runs several companies, according to Russian media, is notably the owner of the M13 group, which specializes in the development of databases and IT resources.
This group has developed the “Katyusha” system for monitoring media and social networks, officially used since 2016 by the Russian presidential administration, as well as by several other Russian ministries.
On April 7, Switzerland received an extradition request from Russia, which the OFJ announced, a few months later, had rejected. The Russian request was followed by an extradition request from the United States on April 19. Switzerland accepted this request on June 24, but Vladislav Kliushin had appealed against this decision to the Federal Criminal Court.