French police arrest Russian pro basketball player on behalf of US over ransomware suspicions

At the request of the United States, French police arrested a professional Russian basketball player who had a brief tenure at Penn State over accusations that he was part of a ransomware ring, according to overseas reports.

News of the arrest of Daniil Kasatkin came in a court in Paris on Wednesday. His lawyer denied to foreign press that he was part of any ransomware ring.

It’s already the second time this week that news broke about European authorities arresting someone on behalf of the United States, following the arrest in Italy of a Chinese national accused of being part of the big hack of Microsoft Exchange Server years ago.

Kasatkin is allegedly part of a hacking outfit that the news outlets did not name, but that American investigators believe has attacked 900 institutions, including two U.S. federal entities, between 2020 and 2022. Authorities said he negotiated ransomware payments on behalf of the ring.

Police reportedly arrested him when he arrived at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport with his newly proposed-to fiancee on June 21, and has been in extradition custody since. A French attorney said he was innocent.

“He bought a used computer. He did absolutely nothing wrong. He’s shocked,” his lawyer, Frédéric Bélot, told Agence-France Presse. “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 wanted to pass himself off as someone else.”

He has lost weight in prison and doesn’t feel safe there because of the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Bélot said.

Kasatkin played three games for the Penn State Nittany Lions during the 2018-19 season, averaging 0.3 points, 0.3 assists and 0.7 personal fouls and graduating from the university. He had a bigger role with his most recent team, Moscow’s MBA-MBAI, averaging 6 points last season. The team announced his departure July 3 after four years with the club. 

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.