Kasatkin had traveled to France to visit Paris with his fiancée and was detained shortly after arriving at the airport.Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

France detains Russian basketball player at US request on hacking charge – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin was arrested in France on a hacking charge at the request of the United States.

U.S. authorities believe Kasatkin negotiated payoffs for a ransomware ring that hacked around 900 companies and two federal government entities in the U.S., demanding money to end their attacks, according to a report from AFP. Kasatkin, who was arrested on June 21, denies the allegations.

His lawyer, Frédéric Bélot, told POLITICO that Kasatkin is a “collateral victim of that crime" because he bought a second-hand computer with malware.