France has extradited a former finance minister of the Moscow region suspected of embezzling $200 million, five years after Russian prosecutors had put in an extradition request.

Alexei Kuznetsov was put on an international wanted list after he left Russia in 2008 for charges of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. Prosecutors believe the former minister, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, embezzled 14 billion rubles ($202.7 million) with his accomplices.

In a statement on Thursday, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said that Kuznetsov had been extradited to Russia. </s> MOSCOW, January 3. /TASS/. Former Moscow Region Finance Minister Alexei Kuznetsov accused of fraud and embezzlement to the tune of 14 bln rubles ($ 201.3 mln) has been extradited from France to Russia, the press service of the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office informed TASS.

"The French competent authorities have complied with the request of the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office concerning the extradition of former Moscow Region Finance Minister Alexei Kuznetsov for criminal prosecution under Part 4 of Section 159, Part 4 of Section 160 and Part 3 of Section 174.1 of Russia’s Criminal Code. Kuznetsov is accused of committing fraud (ten crimes), embezzlement (three crimes) and legalizing property acquired as a result of committing crimes (nine crimes)," the Prosecutor-General’s Office said.

According to investigators, Kuznetsov and his accomplices inflicted damage on the Moscow Region government, housing and utility enterprises and the Mosobltransinvest company to the tune of over 14 bln rubles.

On January 3, Kuznetsov accompanied by officers of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service and the Russian Interpol Bureau was extradited to Russia. "This became possible due the fact that the senior officials of the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office place special emphasis on international cooperation and are actively involved in it. Permanent cooperation with our French counterparts makes it possible for us to overcome the existing barriers caused by differences in our legal systems," the Prosecutor-General’s Office noted. </s> Russia says France has extradited a former regional finance official to face trial on multiple counts of fraud, misuse of funds, and money laundering following a long legal battle.

Aleksei Kuznetsov was "extradited to Russia accompanied by staff from the Russian prison service and the Russian bureau of Interpol," the international police agency, the Prosecutor-General's office said on January 3.

There were no immediate comments from French authorities.

Kuznetsov served as finance minister for the Moscow region between 2000 and 2008.

According to investigators, he, along with "accomplices," caused losses of more than 11 billion rubles ($160 million) to the regional government.

The money was allegedly used to buy property abroad.

Kuznetsov was arrested in southern France in the summer of 2013 and appealed against his extradition in French courts over the following years.

In January 2018, a Russian court convicted Kuznetsov's former wife, Janna Bullock, of large-scale fraud and money laundering and sentenced her to 11 years in prison after a trial in absentia.

Bullock is an American citizen and the United States refuses to extradite her to Russia.

She has said she and her ex-husband were victims of corruption in Russia.

Based on reporting by AFP, TASS, and Interfax </s> France has extradited the former Moscow regional finance minister to Russia. The once high-ranking official and his American wife stand accused of embezzling billions of rubles from the regional budget.

The French law enforcement “have complied with the extradition request,” the Russian Prosecutor General's office said in a statement, adding that the former official, identified as Aleksey Kuznetsov, arrived to Russia on January 3, accompanied by the Russian Interpol agents and the officers of the Federal Penal Correction Service.

Kuznetsov's case dates back to 2010, when he was charged with 10 counts of fraud, 3 counts of embezzlement, as well as with legalization of criminal assets. The damage his criminal actions inflicted to the Moscow region government, local housing and utility services as well as some local businesses amounted to an astonishing 14 billion rubles ($200mn).

According to the prosecutors, he committed his crimes together with his wife, a US citizen called Janna Bullock. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison in absentia in Russia over complicity in Kuznetsov's crimes in January 2018. However, her whereabouts are unknown at the moment. It is also unclear if she and Kuznetsov got divorced since then.

The former finance minister, who had also served as the regional government's deputy head, had already fled Russia by the time he faced the charges, so the Russian authorities put him on an international wanted list. He was eventually arrested three years later in France. France's financial prosecutor also opened a separate case against Kuznetsov and Bullock over legalization of his illegally obtained assets in France.

As part of the investigation, assets belonging to the couple in France and Switzerland that were believed to be purchased with criminal money were seized. The list includes hotels Crystal and Pralong in France, an apartment in Paris, two apartments in Switzerland, a villa in Saint-Tropez, as well as 27 paintings and eight sculptures, 10 Rolls-Royce, Mercedes and Bentley cars and a yacht. The assets were then sold to repay the victims, according to TASS.

In November 2017, the French prime minister issued a decree on Kuznetsov's extradition. The former Russian official then appealed this decision but lost his case in the French court on December 28, 2018.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office praised the work of its French colleagues by saying that “timely cooperation” with Paris allowed it to “break down the barriers” in this case. It also said that it also “gives particular importance to international cooperation.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! </s> PARIS — Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, went on trial in Paris on Monday, facing criminal charges that when she was France’s finance minister, her negligence resulted in the misuse of hundreds of millions of euros in public money.

The trial caps a long-running legal drama that has overshadowed her role at the agency, captivated and irritated the French public, and exposed ties between powerful politicians and the wealthy. It has also compelled Ms. Lagarde to defend herself repeatedly since taking over at the I.M.F. in 2011, when another former French finance minister, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, resigned after being accused of sexually assaulting a maid in a New York City hotel.

Ms. Lagarde is accused of “negligence by a person in a position of public authority” in overseeing a politically charged arbitration case in 2007. In the case, Bernard Tapie, a flamboyant French tycoon close to Nicolas Sarkozy, then France’s president, was awarded more than 400 million euros, or $430 million, to settle a dispute with the partly state-owned bank Crédit Lyonnais.

Her lawyer appealed for a postponement, but the court — which is hearing the case in the same courtroom where the French queen Marie-Antoinette was tried — denied the request. The trial is scheduled to run through Dec. 20 but could conclude earlier. </s> The son of a prominent Russian MP has pleaded guilty on Thursday (8 September) to charges related to his role in a $50m (£37.8m) identity theft and credit card fraud ring called "Carder.su". Roman Valeryevich Seleznev, 33, also known as Track2, pleaded guilty in two separate criminal cases in Georgia and Nevada to one count of participation in a racketeering scheme and another count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, the US Justice Department said on Friday (8 September).

Seleznev is the son of Russian parliament member Valery Seleznev — a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In April, he was sentenced by a federal court in Washington to 27 years in US prison for a massive computer hacking and credit card fraud scheme that caused nearly $170m in damages.

As part of his Nevada plea, Seleznev admitted to becoming a member of the Carder.su organisation in January 2009 — an online, international criminal enterprise whose members "trafficked in compromised credit card account data and counterfeit identifications and committed identity theft, bank fraud and computer crimes," the Justice Department said.

He admitted to selling compromised credit card data and other personal identifying information to other members in the crime ring and even created an automated website advertised on Carder.su's website to sell the "large volume of product".

Each victim's account number was sold for approximately $20, ultimately costing victims over $50m in losses.

He also admitted to serving as a "casher" by working with other hackers to defraud an Atlanta-based company that helped process credit and debit card transactions for financial institutions.

Hackers allegedly infiltrated the company's computer systems and stole 45.5 million debit card numbers, a portion of which was used to fraudulently withdraw over $9.4m from over 2,000 ATMs in 280 cities across the globe in less than 12 hours.

So far, 55 individuals have been charged in relation to the Carder.su organisation, with 33 individuals convicted to date. The rest are currently fugitives or pending trial.

Seleznev was arrested while on vacation in the Maldives in 2014 and later brought to the US to face charges. The Russian government and his father have long asserted that his arrest was illegal and more akin to a kidnapping.

Seleznev's attorney, Igor Litvak, said his client has accepted responsibility for his role in the two cases settled on Thursday. However, he plans to appeal his conviction in the separate Washington case. His 27-year-sentencing in that case is the longest one handed down for charges related to hacking in the US.

"We still feel the way he was brought to the US was illegal," Litvak said, Reuters reports. "He was basically kidnapped."

Seleznev will be sentenced on 11 December. </s> WASHINGTON: The son of a Russian lawmaker accused of stealing credit card data and other personal information has pleaded guilty in two separate criminal cases stemming from a probe into a US$50 million identity theft scheme, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Friday.

Roman Seleznev, 33, the son of Russian parliament member Valery Seleznev, pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a racketeering scheme, and another count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The charges were filed in federal courts in Nevada and Georgia.

The plea deals in the two cases come just a few months after he was sentenced in April to 27 years in prison by a federal court in Washington for his role in the cyber assault. He was arrested in the Maldives and brought to the United States to face charges. </s> Moscow : Russian authorities have arrested billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov on charges of embezzling more than $US35 million ($45 million) in one of the highest-profile prosecutions of a Russian tycoon in years.

Magomedov denied the charges at a pre-trial hearing, where a judge ordered that he be held in custody until May 30.

One of Russia's richest men, 49-year-old Magomedov holds assets in construction and logistics through his sprawling Summa Group. He also has investments in US tech ventures, including the Virgin One Hyperloop project,

He was detained along with his business partner and brother, Magomed Magomedov, and Artur Maksidov, the head of a company in the Summa Group that was involved in construction of a soccer World Cup venue in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The hearing on Saturday in Moscow's Tverskoy District Court was held to decide whether Magomedov and his associates should be detained pending trial. </s> Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to face trial for the alleged irregular financing of his 2012 presidential campaign, the media reported on Tuesday.

 

 Sarkozy is to appear in court along with 13 others, said the "France Info" broadcaster, citing court sources.

 

 The case was originally opened in 2014 when a media investigation found that Sarkozy had surpassed the 22.5 million euro ($24 million) spending cap on his presidential campaign for an election he lost to Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande, the incumbent President.

 

 Prosecutors accused Sarkozy and members of his Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party of having conspired with communications company Bygmalion to cover up the overspend with false invoices, Efe news reported.

 

 The allegations against Sarkozy suggested that the former head of state breached the campaign spending limit by some $15 million.

 

 Rather than invoicing the presidential campaign, the Bygmalion firm allegedly charged those extra expenses to Sarkozy's centre-right UMP, since re-branded as the Republicans, thus bypassing French electoral law.

 

 In France, the case is popularly referred to as the Bygmalion affair.

 

 Sarkozy was fined by the Constitutional Court for his role in the Bygmalion affair and he has since paid back the entire sum of the overspend after a successful donation campaign led by party members and supporters.

 

 The case was widely blamed for his poor showing in the 2016 centre-right presidential primaries when his comeback attempt was thwarted by two former Prime Ministers, Francois Fillon and Alain Juppé.

 

 Sarkozy's 2012 campaign manager Jérôme Lavrilleux and the head of Bygmalion, who has confessed to the accusations, are also due to stand trial. 

 

 Sarkozy's lawyers may yet appeal the order. The centre-right politician would become the second former head of state to stand trial after tenure.

 

 Jacques Chirac was handed a suspended prison sentence by a Paris court in 2011 for diverting public funds and abusing public confidence.
The Prosecutor General of Russia Yury Chaika says that France today extradited Alexei Viktorovich Kuznetsov [ru], a former Finance Minister of the Moscow Region who is accused of fraud and embezzlement amounting to 14 billion Russian rubles (US$200 million).