Hacker move: why a Russian basketball player was arrested in France

On Thursday, July 10, it became known that 26-year-old Russian Daniil Kasatkin was detained at the request of the United States on suspicion of involvement in cybercrimes. The former IBA-MAI player, who is regularly called up to the Russian national team, has been in custody since June 23 and faces extradition to the United States.

The basketball player was detained at the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where he arrived with his fiancee. The Russian himself denies all charges. Bail was refused.

The computer could have been hacked

Kasatkin arrived in Paris for an off-season vacation. He was detained on June 21 at the Charles de Gaulle airport in the capital and taken into custody on June 23. The basketball player's lawyer, Frederic Belo, petitioned for his client's release on bail at a court hearing, but was refused.

Daniil is suspected of "conspiring to commit computer fraud." He allegedly participated in the work of a hacker group that carried out attacks on 900 organizations from 2020 to 2022, including two federal agencies in the United States.

According to the lawyer, Kasatkin does not understand programming at all. He doesn't even know how to install apps. Either his computer was hacked, or a hacker sold it to him in order to act under a false name.

"Daniil is not accused, but suspected,— lawyer Vladimir Sarukhanov told Izvestia. — Allegedly, there is some opinion that he was a negotiator. Daniel was in the USA from 2016 to 2019, graduated from high school there. Then he started studying at the university. At the time of his incrimination, Daniil was an active basketball player and traveled all over Russia, as well as participated in the games. In addition, I have notarized with the notary, and now I am translating all his statistical calculations into French. We have an ironclad alibi for this. Plus, we have contracts. The only drawback is that France does not stupidly start fulfilling the demands of the United States. They are required to verify the information. Suspicion is one thing, but then we need to proceed from whether Daniel could actually commit a crime. Our clear position is that we deny the very fact that he committed a crime, was with people, or even knew anyone.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is working on the issue

It is reported that Kasatkin's health deteriorated in prison — he lost weight from 95 to 89 kilograms. Besides, Daniel is in difficult conditions. Although reports that there was not even a chair in his cell turned out to be untrue.

— The fact that he does not have access to the sports field is quite obvious, — continued Vladimir Sarukhanov. — It is clear that the detention center does not think that Daniel needs to be in shape. He has both a chair and a table. And he's supposed to make calls. It's still old Europe, they're watching over some basic human rights. How does he react to the situation? Daniel is a strong man. His fiancee Anna is very supportive of him. Officially, they can make calls. They saw each other in court yesterday, and they were even allowed to hug.

The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, also spoke about the detention of the basketball player.

"The Russian embassy in Paris is dealing with this issue," Zakharova told SE.

The RFB said they were trying to figure out the case.

— We are very surprised by the information that has appeared about Daniil Kasatkin. Our international department is preparing a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clarify this information. We need to understand this situation and understand how the RFB can help our basketball player," Vladimir Dyachok, General Secretary and Executive Director of the RFB, told SE.

The IBA club also reacted to the detention of its former basketball player and issued such a statement.

— The IBA Basketball Club is shocked by the news of Daniil Kasatkin's arrest in France at the request of the United States. Daniil has been one of the key players of our team in the VTB United League for four years and recently finished playing for the club. We know him as a very decent person and a professional young athlete who is truly passionate about his work. We hope for a speedy resolution of such an obvious misunderstanding. We are determined to do everything in our power for this. Danya, we're with you.

Who is Kasatkin?

Daniil grew up in the CSKA system, but at the age of 17 he moved to the USA, graduated from high school there and entered university. However, three years after leaving Russia, Kasatkin returned home and signed a contract with the Khimki farm club, but at the same time continued to study remotely at the University of Pennsylvania. After that, the defender joined the IBA team, where he played in the VTB United League. He repeatedly got into the symbolic top five of the tour, participated in the VTB United League 2023 All-Star Game, and was invited to the Russian national team.

More recently, it was officially announced that Kasatkin had left the club, which now bears the name IBA-MAI. The resignation letter appeared on July 3, that is, at the moment when he was already in custody in France.