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Diplomats in New York meet with Russian citizen detained by FBI

Maxim Suverin is in New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center

NEW YORK, August 8. /TASS/. Staff members of the Russian consulate general in New York met on Tuesday with Russian citizen Maxim Suverin, who was detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Boston’s airport on July 30 on charges of committing economic crimes, the diplomatic mission said.

The meeting lasted for nearly an hour. "Now the Russian citizen is in New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center," the consulate general said. "The date of the hearing has not been set, the investigation is underway. He has got an attorney."

The consulate general tweeted in Russian that Suverin "is currently in custody on charges of money laundering and collusive fraud." The Russian citizen said his health state was satisfactory. He has not complained of any bias towards him by the correctional center’s personnel. Suverin has not been allowed to make phone calls.

Suverin and three other Russians were detained in the United States last week on charges of committing economic crimes. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, three Russians - Stanislav Lisitsky, Alexei Livadny and Nikolai Tupikin - are held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. These individuals along with 21 others are defendants in a case considered by the magistrates court of New York’s Southern District.

According to a 10-page indictment included in the Pacer.gov database, these persons were involved in a fraudulent scheme targeting individuals who tried to purchase goods via the Internet. In particular, the Russians allegedly published advertisements in the Internet on selling rare cars and offered clients to transfer funds to the accounts of fly-by-night companies. Then they withdrew the funds and transferred them to their accounts.