French cops cuff Russian pro basketball player on ransomware charges

A Russian professional basketball player is cooling his heels in a French detention center after being arrested and accused of acting as a negotiator for a ransomware gang.

Daniil Kasatkin, 26, was arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris on June 21 after flying in with his fiancée, to whom he had just proposed, according to AFP. He's currently being held pending extradition to the US to face charges of "conspiracy to commit computer fraud" and "computer fraud conspiracy."

Kasatkin is accused of being part of an as-yet unnamed ransomware gang that operated between 2020 and 2022 and allegedly hit around 900 organizations, including two US federal agencies. The Russian embassy in France publicly complained on Thursday that the local authorities are blocking attempts to meet with Kasatkin, and his French lawyer has been loudly protesting his innocence.

"He bought a second-hand computer. He did absolutely nothing. He ...