French authorities have arrested Russian professional basketball player Daniil Kasatkin at the request of the U.S., which accuses him of helping orchestrate a sweeping ransomware scheme, a Paris court revealed Wednesday.
Kasatkin, a former Penn State player who most recently played for Moscow’s MBA-MAI, was taken into custody at Charles de Gaulle Airport on June 21, officials said.
U.S. prosecutors allege he acted as a negotiator for a ransomware gang that targeted the computer systems of roughly 900 companies and two federal government agencies between 2020 and 2022, extorting payments to halt the attacks.
Kasatkin, 26, denies the accusations.
“He bought a used computer. He did absolutely nothing wrong. He’s shocked,” his lawyer, Frederic Belot, told Agence France-Presse (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 wanted to pass himself off as someone else.”
The court denied bail for Kasatkin, who faces potential extradition.
Belot said Kasatkin, who recently got engaged and had come to France with his fiancee, is suffering from a deteriorating physical condition in jail, putting his basketball career at risk.
Kasatkin played four seasons with MBA-MAI, twice finishing third in the Russian Basketball Cup.
He played briefly as a guard for Penn State in several games during the 2018-19 season.
