WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2023) The US government is asking for a 14-year prison sentence for Russian national Vladislav Klyushin convicted of hack-and-trade charges, according to a sentencing memorandum.
A court in Boston is expected to sentence Klyushin on September 7. In February, the Russian national was convicted by a Federal jury on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud. He pleads not guilty.
"The government respectfully requests that the Court sentence Klyushin to a term of 168 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and to pay a $5,000,000 fine and restitution totaling $8,285,314.36 under 18 U.S.C. � 3663A," Assistant US Attorney Seth B. Kosto said in the memorandum filed on Wednesday.
The court should separately allow for forfeiture totaling $36,600,000 and permit the government to forfeit as substitute assets certain deposits the government has restrained in the Republic of Cyprus, the filing said.
The sentence sought by the government is somewhat below the applicable guidelines range, but above the typical sentences imposed in white-collar cases in the District of Massachusetts, it said.
The government believes that a sentence for the defendant will likely be "meaningfully shorter" given the significant credit that white-collar defendants typically earn for good behavior and under the First Step Act, according to the filing.
Defending the request for the years-long sentence, the filing said that Klyushin and his co-conspirators "earned tens of millions of Dollars in illicit profits and inflicted millions of dollars in actual damages."
Klyushin had every reason not to offend, according to the prosecutor. He was "not destitute or depressed" when he committed the crimes, but was rather a "millionaire business owner who traveled in the highest echelons of Russian society," the memorandum said.
The court's sentence should make clear that "hackers and traders who would victimize U.S. companies and securities markets from abroad will, if caught, spend meaningful portions of their lives in prison," the memorandum concluded.
Klyushin was arrested in Switzerland in March 2021 and extradited to the US later that year.
