US Judge Rejects Russian National Klyushin Motion To Partially Dismiss Indictment - Order

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st November, 2022) US Judge Patti Saris has ordered that Russian national Vladislav Klyushin's motion to dismiss two counts from the indictment in the case against him is rejected, according to a court filing.

"(O)rdered: Motion to Dismiss - Denied as stated on the record," the order said on Monday.

The order also set the pretrial date for January 5 at 2:30 p.m. (18:30 GMT), while the jury trial will begin on January 30 at 8:30 a.m. (12:30 GMT).

In September, Klyushin's defense filed a motion to dismiss Count IV or conspiracy to obtain unauthorized access to computers, and to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, and to partially dismiss Count I or securities fraud.

In December, Klyshin and four other Russian nationals were charged with crimes in connection with an alleged global hacking and trading scheme that netted the defendant $82 million through the use of stolen company data to inform trading decisions.

The US Justice Department accused the defendants of hacking the computer networks of two US filing agents used by publicly traded companies to make quarterly and annual filings during the period between January 2018 and September 2020.

Klyushin denied all accusations during the initial court hearing in January but the judge then rejected his request for bail and ordered that he be kept detained until the trial commences.

Klyushin owns the media monitoring and cybersecurity services company M13. He was arrested in Switzerland in March of 2021 and extradited to the United States later that year.

In September, Klyushin's attorney, Maksim Nemtsev, told Sputnik that the defense team can neither confirm nor deny whether Klyushin may be part of a possible prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia to free imprisoned US citizens Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.