Russian Dubnikov Faces Likely Conviction Over Financial Crime Charges, Will be Released Tonight

WASHINGTON, August 18 (Sputnik) - The chances of extradited Russian citizen Denis Dubnikov being convicted by a US court for alleged financial and cyber crimes are high, former Dubnikov lawyer Arkady Bukh told Sputnik.

"The client at the time of arraignment is not guilty, but statistically US courts on cyber cases have a 99.7% or 99.8% conviction rate, so it’s almost a 100% conviction rate on cyber cases extradited to the United States," Bukh said on Wednesday.

An "all for all" prisoner swap between the United States and Russia would also not be surprising, Bukh said. However, the United States holds many more Russians in its custody than Russia does Americans, he added.

Later, David Angeli of the Angeli Law Group told Sputnik that Dubnikov will not be part of a prisoner swap being negotiated between Moscow and Washington.

"He's not part of a prisoner swap," Angeli said on Wednesday when asked if Dubnikov could be part of a prisoner swap between the United States and Russia.

Dubnikov is still in police custody in the state of Oregon but will be released later tonight, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office told Sputnik.

"He's currently in custody, [but] he's getting released tonight," the sheriff's office said on Wednesday.

The sheriff's office said that US Marshals said Dubnikov should be released, but they do not know the reason for it.

Dubnikov was extradited from the Netherlands to the United States to make his initial appearance at a US federal court in Oregon earlier on Wednesday. Dubnikov alongside co-conspirators is alleged to have laundered the proceeds of ransomware attacks on US individuals and organizations, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Dubnikov faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the charges against him, the statement added.