- French police withheld Daniil Kasatkin at the request of US authorities
- His lawyer says Kasatkin bought a used computer and he is completely innocent
- Kasatkin was allegedly denied bail
A Russian professional basketball player has been arrested in an airport under suspicion of being a ransomware -cyber criminal.
On June 21, 2025, French authorities Daniil Kasatkin arrested in Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Kasatkin is a 26-year-old basketball professional who plays for MBA Moscow in the Russian VTB United League.
He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2019 and was apparently arrested at the request of US authorities.
Russia requires consular access
Kasatkin’s lawyer, Frederic Belot, told the French news agency AFP that his client is basically PC-Leserat and that he could not have done any ransomware attack:
“He bought a used computer. He did absolutely nothing wrong. He’s shocked,” Belot told AFP. “He’s useless with computers. He can’t even install an app. He didn’t touch anything on this computer. It was either hacked or sold to him by a hacker who would pass himself as someone else.”
Talking to PakinomistBelot apparently acknowledged that the computer was used for cybercrime.
“Kasatkin simply used a used computer he bought without changing the system’s username. The account was undoubtedly hacked and was remotely controlled by cyber criminals without Mr. Kasatkin’s knowledge,” Belot said.
Following news of the arrest, Russia’s Embassy in Paris demanded consular access to Kasatkin, Pakinomist also said. “The embassy deals with the situation in detaining Russian citizen Daniil Kasatkin in France,” the embassy said in a statement.
The embassy also threw French authorities to be too slow: “This is not an isolated case when we are facing a delay on the issue of consular access to a Russian citizen.”
The Times of India reports that the French court refused bail for Kasatkin, who is now facing extradition to the United States. The name of the Ransomware group, which he was allegedly part of, was not revealed, but the same publication claims that the group hit more than 900 organizations between 2020 and 2022.
Via Techcrunch
