Vladimir Putin's government may have tried to interfere in the massive financial services hacking case involving Fidelity [profile], J.P. Morgan [profile], and other financial services and media giants. [See MFWire's living timeline for more updates and history on the great financial services hack.]

Joshua Aaron

Yesterday in New York City, Benjamin Brafman, the lawyer representing alleged hacking conspirator Joshua Aaron, told U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain that Aaron turned down an offer of asylum in Russia after he applied for refugee status in June, Reuters reports.

"It took us several months of fighting with the Russian authorities to actually get him on a plane," Brafman reportedly said to the judge. "In that period, he was offered full asylum by Russian authorities and rejected it."

Aaron, a 32-year-old native Marylander and one of nine people charged in the alleged conspiracy, returned to the U.S. on Wednesday and was arrested at JFK airport in Queens before pleading not guilty to 16 criminal charges. He had been in Russia since May 2015, and he had been detained in a Moscow-area facility for illegal immigrants since May 2016. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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