RPT - US Court Likely To Convict Russian Dubnikov On Financial Crime Charges - Lawyer

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2022) The chances of extradited Russian citizen Denis Dubnikov being convicted by a US court for alleged financial and cyber crimes are high, former Dubnikov lawyer Arkady Bukh told Sputnik.

"The client at the time of arraignment is not guilty, but statistically US courts on cyber cases have a 99.7% or 99.8% conviction rate, so it's almost a 100% conviction rate on cyber cases extradited to the United States," Bukh said on Wednesday.

An "all for all" prisoner swap between the United States and Russia would also not be surprising, Bukh said. However, the United States holds many more Russians in its custody than Russia does Americans, he added.

Bukh also said he has no information at this time about a possible exchange involving Dubnikov.

Dubnikov was extradited from the Netherlands to the United States to make his initial appearance at a US Federal court in Oregon earlier on Wednesday. Dubnikov alongside co-conspirators is alleged to have laundered the proceeds of ransomware attacks on US individuals and organizations, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Dubnikov faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the charges against him, the statement added.