Klyushin’s Lawyers Find Contradictions in Testimony of FBI Agent - Defense Team

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The defense team of Russian national Vladislav Klyushin, who is accused in the United States of committing economic crimes, has found errors in the testimony of an FBI agent and is petitioning to remove the charge of insider trading, a representative of the defense team told Sputnik.

"Vladislav Klyushin's defense insists on holding a hearing on errors and omissions in the affidavit of FBI Special Agent Kang, which was used to obtain search warrants for access to Klyushin's electronic data, and the exclusion of insider trading from the charges," the representative said.

The corresponding petitions were filed by the lawyers of the Russian businessman in a federal court in Massachusetts.

According to the representative, FBI special agent B.J. Kang unreasonably obtained a search warrant for Klyushin, relying only on the possible similarity of the transactions of another defendant in the case.

"The very fact of parallel trading in securities does not in any way allow anybody to assert that Klyushin could be involved in insider trading on the basis of the fact that one position [shares of one company] was allegedly traded simultaneously with another participant in the prosecution. This accusation is not supported by any other evidence and analytical data reflected in the affidavit filed with the judge by FBI special agent B.J. Kang to obtain a search warrant for electronic devices and personal accounts of Vladislav Klyushin," the representative said.

According to him, the FBI agent did not have enough evidence to request access to all the data in Klyushin's iCloud and Google accounts but simply used numerous conjectures. At the same time, Kang had previously been caught in distorting facts and evidence in another high-profile case against businessman Raj Rajaratnam, the representative added.

A motion to drop the insider trading charge against Klyushin could become a high-profile court precedent. According to the arguments of the defense, Klyushin can only be accused of allegedly "hacking" corporate networks, but not of insider trading in securities. A positive decision on this petition could set a precedent in the state of Massachusetts, which will inevitably lead to changes in the law, writing the name of the judge in the state's judicial history.

The next motion review meeting will be held on October 31, with a pre-main hearing scheduled for January 5, 2023. The main hearing in the form of a final meeting with the participation of the jury will take place on January 30.