Sinister network of Russian agents busted in Cold War-style plot to infiltrate the US Secret Service using American tech CEO
An American tech CEO allegedly helped Russian nationals hide their ownership of a digital forensics company so it could land lucrative US government contracts — including a deal with the Secret Service.Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that Oxygen Forensics CEO Lee Reiber, 52, allegedly joined forces with Moscow-based Russian national Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52, in a Cold War-style scheme to conceal the company’s Russian ties while pitching its software to US agencies.And now Reiber is headed for a Los Angeles federal courtroom.The alleged deception could have given Russian agents a foothold inside a company providing technology used to “recover, preserve, and analyze electronic data from digital devices” belonging to government customers.Reiber and Davydov have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.Reiber, an American, allegedly told the US government that the Alexandria, Virginia-based company wasn’t owned by Russians and that Russian nationals had no role in developing its software.Prosecutors say that was far from the truth.Davydov and four other Russian nationals allegedly owned Oxygen Forensics through a holding company in Cyprus.The company’s Russian-developed software had previously been sold to the Russian Federal Security Service, the Russian Investigative Committee and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.Davydov developed the software and founded the Virginia company in 2013.
Reiber joined in 2015 and was later installed as CEO after the US slapped sanctions on Russia in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.The complaint alleges the Russians then used Reiber as the American face of the company while concealing its Russian ownership from public corporate filings.But prosecutors say Reiber wasn’t exactly calling the shots.The Russians “continued to make significant decisions and set Reiber’s compensation, overruled him on payments, and held signatory authority over the company’s bank accounts.”Reiber alleged...