Wealthy Russian with Kremlin ties gets 9 years in prison for hacking and insider trading scheme

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Boston has sentenced a wealthy Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin to nine years in prison for his role in a nearly $100 million insider trading scheme that relied on stolen company earnings information hacked through U.S. computer networks. U.S. District Judge Patti Saris sentenced Vladislav Klyushin during a hearing Thursday. Klyushin, who ran an information technology company that did work for the highest levels of the Kremlin, was convicted in February of wire and securities fraud. Authorities say he pocketed more than $33 million in the scheme, which involved stealing earnings-related filings for hundreds of companies, including Microsoft and Tesla. Four alleged co-conspirators remain at large.