Did U.S. Charge Klyushin to Reveal 2016 DNC Hack Info?
A Russian man, extradited from Switzerland last month, is thought to be helping U.S. authorities learn more about the 2016 Democratic Party breach. The original charge was one of insider trading, but now we might find out more about that alleged election manipulation.
Vladislav Klyushin (pictured) is said to be linked with the Fancy Bear/APT28 hacking group—thought to be part of the Russian GRU military intelligence unit. He’s been described as “the highest-level Kremlin insider handed to U.S. law enforcement in recent memory.”
But something doesn’t add up. In today’s SB Blogwatch, we do the math.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Thom don’t belong here.
Vladislav vs. Vladimir
What’s the craic? Henry Meyer, Irina Reznik and Hugo Miller report—“U.S. Catches Kremlin Insider Who May Have Secrets of 2016 Hack”:
“Baffled many observers in Moscow”
Vladislav Klyushin, who’d been extradited from Switzerland on Dec. 18 … ran an information technology company that works with the Russian government’s top echelons. [His] cybersecurity work and Kremlin ties could make him a useful source of information for U.S. officials.
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The U.S. [has], in its custody, the highest-level Kremlin insider handed to U.S. law enforcement in recent memory. … Russian intelligence has concluded that [he] has access to documents relating to a Russian campaign to hack Democratic Party servers during the 2016 U.S. election. [They] establish the hacking was led by a team in Russia’s GRU military intelligence that U.S. cybersecurity companies have dubbed “Fancy Bear” or APT28.
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Klyushin was approached by U.S. and U.K. spy agencies in the two years before his exit from Russia and received heightened levels of security in Switzerland. He [had] a brief window to make a last-ditch appeal of his extradition — a request to the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR]. However, his attorney filed that request in a way that took days, rather than hours [which] baffled many observers in Moscow. [By the time] Klyushin’s request was received by the ECHR, [he] had already been in the U.S. for four days.
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Klyushin’s attorney in Switzerland, Oliver Ciric, said he doesn’t know anything about what, if any, documents his client may have. [His] U.S.-based lawyer, Maksim Nemtsev, … said his client “intends to challenge the government’s case in a lawful, professional and principled manner.”
That’s nice. Sean Lyngaas says Klyushin “could prove intelligence ‘gold mine’”:
“All available legal remedies”
US prosecutors have accused Klyushin and four other Russian men of an elaborate insider trading scheme that involved hacking into companies that Tesla and other firms used to file Securities and Exchange Commission reports. … One of Klyushin’s co-defendants in the securities fraud case is Ivan Ermakov, who was one of a dozen GRU officers whom a federal grand jury indicted in 2018 for interfering in the 2016 election by hacking and leaking documents from the Democratic National Committee.
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Prosecutors accuse Klyushin, Ermakov and their co-conspirators of using access to the non-public financial records to make tens of millions of dollars on stock trades. Ermakov worked at Klyushin’s firm, M-13, which claims to offer “IT solutions to the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation,” among other government agencies.
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Christopher Krebs, former head of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, called Klyushin’s arrest and prosecution a potential “gold mine” for US intelligence because it could shed additional light on GRU operations against the US and its allies: … “If he flips, he may be able to confirm the intelligence community’s findings about Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.”
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Oliver Ciric, a Switzerland-based lawyer for Klyushin, [said] his client denies the … charges and “intends to use all available legal remedies in order to ensure his defense.”
Does this make sense? Marcy “empty” Wheeler isn’t sure we have the full picture—“Klyushin Traveled Freely in Europe, Until He Didn’t”:
“Ire of the Kremlin”
[This is] a fascinating update on the case of … the guy who ran a pen-testing company for Vladimir Putin, extradited to Boston on charges of insider trading last month. It states that Klyushin has … access to documents on the 2016 Russian hack and suggests he might be leveraged to share this information to get out of [a] lengthy insider trading sentence.
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[But] the US already has documentary proof that GRU was behind the hack-and-leak. … So such documents must go beyond mere confirmation of GRU’s role, if reports of Kremlin concerns are true. … US and British intelligence had targeted Klyushin for recruitment (and believed they had some reason to convince him to) [so] something else was behind the timing of his arrest.
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If Klyushin came to decide he wanted to be extradited … he may have only come to that conclusion upon receiving more details about the charges against him—possibly including details that might expose him to the ire of the Kremlin.
What’s the next move? Heed the feline prognostications of jenningsthecat (no relation):
“I’m very afraid”
Now the US has a choice: They can keep this guy for whatever dubious information they can get from him, or they can … trade him for Snowden.
I sincerely hope they do the former, but I’m very afraid that they’ll try the latter. I think Putin has gotten just about all the mileage he can from Snowden, and would be happy to trade him.
What can we learn from the tradecraft? Here’s what u/teeth-of-love learned today:
Dude ran an IT security company and still unknowingly got his phone hacked by the US gov. We don’t stand a chance of ever keeping our **** private.
Is it an open and shut case? aksss is still not convinced:
“I’m still not convinced”
Call me when they actually have verified material in hand, it otherwise continues to be speculation. Put another way, “We think he may have … documents which we think may provide proof of this theory. BTW we’re also indicting him on massive multi-million dollar insider trading charges which he can plea down if he tells us things.”
That’s a long way from “we have proof” … which I think is how the theory is often presented—as fact. Speculation about the existence of evidence is not evidence. I’m still not convinced the “inside leak” theory wasn’t just as likely.
Who saw this coming? @JuliaIoffe reminisces thuswise:
When Russiagate was raging and @IcarusNetflix dropped in 2017, I remember watching it and thinking: The only way we’ll really ever know what the Russians did in 2016 is if someone defects and tells us.
I wonder if this is that moment.
Such as? Ruthie cannot resist asking this burning question:
Is it also possible that Klyushin could, if he does cooperate, finger Manafort, or at least elaborate on that part of the story?
Meanwhile, u/2_dam_hi imagines a recent conversation between Biden and Putin:
So, Vlad. About those troops on the Ukrainian border …
And Finally:
I, too, want a perfect soul. Shame about that.
You have been reading SB Blogwatch by Richi Jennings. Richi curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites … so you don’t have to. Hate mail may be directed to @RiCHi or [email protected]. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE. 30.
Image sauce: U.S. Department of Justice
