Is This Russian Basketball Player Part of a Ransomware Gang?

The US reportedly suspects a Russian professional basketball player has ties to a ransomware gang, going as far to request his arrest. 

Last month, police in France arrested 26-year-old Daniil Kasatkin at the Paris airport on allegations he’s been working with a ransomware gang, according to the media outlets Agence France-Presse and Le Monde.

The US requested his arrest, claiming Kasatkin has been negotiating payouts for a ransomware group that targeted computer systems at around 900 companies between 2020 to 2022. The same gang also hacked two federal government entities in the US. 

So far, the FBI and Justice Department haven’t commented on the case. But federal investigators might be referring to the Conti ransomware gang, which the US previously connected to attacks on 900 companies. In 2023, the Justice Department indicted a group of Russians for spreading the Conti ransomware through Trickbot malware infections. 

According to Le Monde, the US has issued an arrest warrant for Kasatkin for “conspiracy to commit computer fraud.” The case came to light on Wednesday in a Paris court, which decided to keep Kasatkin in custody.

However, Kasatkin’s lawyer has been denying the hacking allegations. “He’s useless with computers. He can’t even install an app,” the lawyer told the AFP, blaming the incident on Kasatkin buying a used computer that was already compromised. 

“He didn’t touch anything on this computer. It was either hacked, or sold to him by a hacker who wanted to pass himself off as someone else,” the lawyer claimed.

Kasatkin previously played college basketball at Penn State University during the 2018 to 2019 season, only playing three games and logging zero points. Since then, he’s been playing in Russian basketball leagues.

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About Michael Kan

Senior Reporter

I’ve been working as a journalist for over 15 years—I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017.

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