A Ukrainian man wanted in the United States for money laundering and securities fraud has been arrested in Monaco, the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant reported on Monday, according to AFP.Yevgeny Dvoskin, a native of Ukraine`s Black Sea port of Odessa, was caught "about two weeks ago" in Monaco, US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spokesman Jason Pack told the newspaper.
Dvoskin had been wanted by the FBI since 2003 when a New York court indicted him and eight others of securities fraud and laundering 2.3 million dollars (1.45 million euros), Pack said.
The charges dated back to 1997-1998 and involved several large companies traded on US stock markets, Kommersant reported, citing a FBI attache to the Russian interior ministry.
Dvoskin`s eight co-accused were sentenced, but Dvoskin escaped prosecution because he had been deported to his native Ukraine in 2001, escaping charges that could have led to 25 years in prison.
After 2001, Dvoskin moved on to Moscow where he allegedly became involved in a gang that used intimidation and blackmail to take control of small Russian banks, Kommersant said, citing sources in the Russian interior ministry.
Russia will soon ask for Dvoskin`s extradition too, but the request is "problematic" because the United States will probably have first claim on the fugitive, the newspaper said.
