JURIST - Paper Chase: Suspected Russia racketeer wanted in US arrested in Moscow

[JURIST] Suspected Russian crime lord Semyon Y. Mogilevich has been arrested in Moscow on tax evasion charges, Russian officials said Friday. Mogilevich was arrested late Wednesday and a court approved his arrest on Thursday. Mogilevich is also wanted in the US [FBI profile] on unrelated charges for allegedly manipulating the stock of the billion dollar Pennsylvania corporation YBM Magnex International.

Mogilevich and two associates were indicted [press release, PDF] in 2003 on 45 counts of racketeering, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering charges. At the time charges were filed, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Patrick Meehan said that the defendants inflated the value of YBM stock "so that they could profit at the public's expense. Books were cooked, auditors were deceived, bribes were offered to accountants. The defendants profited to the tune of more than $33 million, while the total loss to investors was more than $150 million." The US and Russia do not currently have an extradition treaty. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.

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