The son of a Russian Duma deputy has been found guilty of cyber fraud by a U.S. court in Seattle, Washington, international news outlets reported Thursday.
A jury found Roman Seleznyov guilty of causing damage worth $170 million by stealing and selling details from 1.7 million credit cards, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
After a day of deliberation, the jury found Seleznev guilty of 38 criminal counts, including 10 counts of wire fraud, nine counts of obtaining information illegally and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Seleznyov was arrested by U.S. authorities as he boarded a plane in the Maldivian capital of Malé in July 2014. His father Valery Seleznyov, who represents the center-right LDPR Party, has likened his son's arrest to a “kidnapping” and claimed that Seleznyov had been denied basic rights.
He later told state-backed news agency Russia Today that U.S. authorities may have taken Seleznyov in the hope of trading him for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the case an “unacceptable violation of the rights of a Russian citizen,” and pledged to aid Seleznyov in his appeal, the TASS news agency reported Friday.
"It is already clear that there's already been an absolutely unacceptable violation to the rights of a Russian citizen in Seleznev case,” the ministry's Human Rights Commissioner Konstantin Dolgov said.
Sentencing is due to take place on Dec. 2. Roman Seleznyov's lawyer plans to appeal the verdict.
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