Jan 11, 2026, 08:46 AM
A Russian basketball player accused of being involved in a ransomware gang was freed in a prisoner exchange between Russia and France.
Daniil Kasatkin, 26, was seen in a video shared by Russian state news outlet TASS emerging from a plane that was then used to send French researcher Laurent Vinatier back to France. Vinatier was sentenced to three years in prison after Russian officials accused him of violating “foreign agent” laws.
Kasatkin was detained in June at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport shortly after arriving in the country with his fiancée. He was held in French extradition custody after U.S. prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest based on accusations that he served as a negotiator for an unnamed ransomware gang that attacked about 900 organizations between 2020 and 2022.
He was charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud. While the ransomware gang was never named, the Justice Department previously said the now-defunct Conti ransomware group attacked more than 900 victims worldwide.
Daniil Kasatkin, 26, was seen in a video shared by Russian state news outlet TASS emerging from a plane that was then used to send French researcher Laurent Vinatier back to France. Vinatier was sentenced to three years in prison after Russian officials accused him of violating “foreign agent” laws.
Kasatkin was detained in June at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport shortly after arriving in the country with his fiancée. He was held in French extradition custody after U.S. prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest based on accusations that he served as a negotiator for an unnamed ransomware gang that attacked about 900 organizations between 2020 and 2022.
He was charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud. While the ransomware gang was never named, the Justice Department previously said the now-defunct Conti ransomware group attacked more than 900 victims worldwide.