The 55-year-old American Raiber was detained in Idaho, and the 52-year-old Russian Davydov — at London’s Heathrow Airport before departing for Istanbul. They are accused of conspiracy to commit fraud, and the U.S. intends to seek Davydov’s extradition.
Oxygen Forensics develops software for extracting and analyzing data from smartphones and other devices and supplies it to law enforcement agencies. The company’s software was purchased by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Secret Service, and units of the Department of Homeland Security. In September 2024, the National Computer Forensics Institute at the Secret Service signed a five-year contract with the company.
According to prosecutors, Oxygen Forensics concealed from U.S. government agencies that it was owned and controlled by Russians, and that its software was developed in Russia. In fact, the indictment says, the company belonged to five Russians through a holding company registered in Cyprus. The same five people owned the Russian company MKO-Systems, which Davydov founded in 2000.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began and U.S. sanctions expanded, the owners, prosecutors say, decided to hide Oxygen Forensics’ Russian ties. Russians were removed from the company’s public documents, and Raiber was appointed CEO in March 2022. At the same time, the Russian owners continued to make key decisions, controlled bank accounts, and determined Raiber’s salary, investigators say.
According to prosecutors, Raiber repeatedly assured U.S. authorities that the company was not controlled from Russia. In March 2026, he also claimed that Russians were not involved in software development and had no access to the infrastructure where it was assembled. According to the indictment, development continued to be handled by a team in Russia under Davydov’s leadership.
Oxygen Forensics appeared in the U.S. in 2013. It was co-founded by Davydov, who had previously created the Russian company Oxygen Software, later renamed MKO-Systems. The company produces Mobile Criminalist, a program for extracting and recovering data from smartphones, used by Russian law enforcement, including during border checks. According to investigators, among MKO-Systems’ clients were the FSB, the Investigative Committee, and the Interior Ministry.
Sources
