0:03

Hello Dateline fans, we've got a

0:05

brand new true crime thriller for

0:07

you featuring a multi-million dollar criminal

0:09

enterprise, the FBI agents who took

0:11

it on, and even a couple

0:13

of Russian and American spies. I'm

0:15

CNBC senior Washington correspondent Aiman Javer

0:17

is here with a special sneak

0:19

peek of my limited podcast series,

0:21

the crimes of Putin's traitor. Take

0:23

a listen and be sure to follow the crimes

0:26

of Putin's traitor wherever you get your podcast for

0:28

full episodes right now. This

0:40

is the sound of the private jet runway

0:42

at tiny Sion Airport high in the Swiss

0:44

Alps. Sion is the gateway

0:46

to the famed ski resort of Zerman

0:49

with its five-star hotels, luxury shopping and

0:51

high-end social scene. Even

0:53

in a private jet though, you can only

0:55

get so close to the snow-capped mountains. Sion

0:58

is still an hour's drive from the chairlifts. So

1:01

the truly wealthy take a short walk across

1:03

the tarmac and board helicopters to take them

1:06

directly to the slopes. And

1:08

on March 21st, 2021, an up-and-coming

1:11

young Russian oligarch and his wife touched

1:13

down here in a chartered private jet

1:15

on their way to the slopes. It's

1:17

a wedding anniversary celebration. And

1:20

at that moment, the oligarch is at the absolute

1:22

height of his powers. He's

1:24

personable. He smiles a lot. He's

1:27

engaging. He's charismatic. That's how he

1:29

was so successful in business. He's

1:31

devoted to his family. He's

1:34

built a fabulously successful company. He's cultivated

1:36

connections at the highest levels of the

1:38

Russian government. And he works for the

1:41

office of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

1:44

But what the oligarch doesn't know is that

1:47

U.S. law enforcement has been monitoring the

1:49

flight since it left Moscow. And

1:51

they're planning to charge him with crimes that go

1:53

to the heart of the American financial system.

1:56

It's a breathless moment. You're literally

1:58

holding your breath. to

2:01

see how this is going to

2:03

play out. American law enforcement believes

2:05

the oligarch is involved in a

2:07

brazen $93 million insider trading scheme.

2:09

And the victims are investors in

2:11

iconic American companies, including names on

2:13

the cutting edge of the US

2:15

economy, like Tesla, Snapchat, and Roku.

2:18

At stake is the very integrity

2:20

of American capital markets. We

2:23

knew that somebody was up to no good,

2:25

and we knew that the scale of it

2:27

was pretty big, because it was happening quarter

2:29

after quarter in stock after stock. It's

2:32

all part of the dangerous underground of

2:34

the global financial system. In

2:36

this podcast, we're going to take you

2:38

inside the operation to track down and

2:40

try to capture this Russian oligarch. Along

2:43

the way, you'll meet the FBI agents

2:45

who led the investigation and the prosecutors

2:47

who worked alongside them. We've

2:50

spent months working to land interviews with all

2:52

the key players, but the most

2:54

difficult interview of them all was with

2:56

a former Russian spy. We'll introduce him

2:58

to you later in the series. He's

3:00

a defector who now lives in the United

3:03

States under an assumed name. I

3:05

got his cell phone number from a very

3:07

well-placed US intelligence source, and after

3:09

his security team checked me out to verify I

3:12

was who I said I was, we

3:14

sat down with this Russian spy at a

3:16

location inside the United States, which we agreed

3:18

not to disclose. He's one

3:21

of the very few people in the world

3:23

who can give us the Russian perspective on

3:25

this story. To protect him

3:27

from retribution from the Russian government, we're not

3:29

going to use his name. We've

3:31

replaced his voice, and someone else is

3:33

reading the transcript of our conversation. It's

3:36

a war right now happening between Russia

3:38

and the West. Finances and banks and

3:41

financial sector itself is just one of

3:43

the battlefields. When I

3:45

heard what he has to say, it changed

3:47

everything about how I see this story. I'm

3:50

Eamon Javerz from CNBC, and

3:52

this is the Crimes of Putin's Trader. center

4:00

of the story is the young Russian oligarch on

4:02

that private jet heading to the Swiss ski resort.

4:05

His name is Vladislav Klyushin. His friends

4:07

call him Vlad. Klyushin is

4:09

a well-connected businessman who owns a

4:12

cybersecurity firm in Moscow called M-13.

4:15

But the firm is a front. It's

4:17

not doing what normal cybersecurity companies

4:20

do. Behind the scenes,

4:22

Klyushin's employees aren't always helping

4:24

companies to protect their data.

4:26

Sometimes they're stealing it. They

4:29

found a sneaky way to obtain American

4:31

financial information before its public and trade

4:33

in the stock market ahead of the

4:35

news. And they're making a

4:37

fortune by pillaging American investors on Wall

4:40

Street. And Klyushin wants to

4:42

make a whole lot of money. Inside

4:45

the operation, M-13's computer

4:48

screens are flowing with stolen stock

4:50

market information. Klyushin's team pours

4:52

over American corporate earnings reports before

4:54

the financial world can see them.

4:57

At one point, they focus in on Tesla,

4:59

the electric car company. M-13

5:02

hackers steal Tesla's draft earnings release

5:04

and seeing the results, they buy

5:06

shares in advance. Klyushin

5:08

sends a text to two of the investors in

5:11

the scheme, giving them a heads up. Pay

5:13

attention to shares of Tesla now and

5:15

tomorrow after 1630 and on how much

5:17

they go up. After

5:24

the market closes, Tesla reports its earnings. For

5:26

Tesla, we're seeing a pop in the after-hour

5:28

session of more than 12 percent. We saw

5:30

a pop. But of course, Klyushin knows what's

5:32

coming. It's a monster number,

5:34

more than six point eight billion dollars

5:37

in revenue. CEO Elon Musk

5:39

tells investors on a conference call

5:41

that it was an incredibly historic

5:43

quarter. Wall Street is dazzled. It's

5:45

much better news than traders expected

5:47

and Tesla's shares soar. In

5:52

the second quarter of 2019, the M-13

5:55

team steals documents showing that sneaker

5:57

company Skechers is going to surprise

5:59

the market. market with positive news.

6:02

The company was going to beat earnings by about 15 cents

6:05

per share. The M-13 traders

6:07

buy stock and Skechers betting that the

6:09

price will go up. Taking a look

6:11

at Skechers up 8.7

6:13

percent there. The whole group

6:15

ends up making more than a million

6:17

dollars on that single trade. And they're

6:20

making millions of dollars just sitting at

6:22

their desks, breaking into these

6:24

American companies, stealing information

6:27

day after day after day and

6:29

just trading. It gets even

6:31

better with cosmetics company Ulta Beauty. M-13

6:34

stolen documents showed the earnings were a

6:36

miss. And what's worse for

6:39

shareholders the companies updated its financial

6:41

guidance downward. The

6:43

M-13 gang shorts the stock betting it's going to

6:45

go down. The tanking is the right word. Ulta

6:47

Beauty shares down 20 percent on

6:50

a rough second quarter report. They're right.

6:52

Ulta's price plummeted by 30 percent when

6:54

that news came out. For M-13

6:56

it's great news. The gang

6:59

makes almost two million dollars overnight

7:01

on a single trade. They gleefully

7:03

text details of how much they

7:05

and their investors are making. Cleution

7:08

reports that one investor had already

7:10

made profits of close to one

7:12

million dollars, nearly tripling his investment.

7:15

A second investor had made profits of

7:17

close to seven hundred thousand dollars, nearly

7:19

doubling his money. Cleution. They

7:22

don't even ask why so

7:24

anymore. The

7:28

money Cleution makes from the stolen financial

7:31

information is literally piling up. He

7:33

has a safe in which he stashes

7:35

stacks of hundred dollar bills, gradually filling

7:37

it until at one point it holds

7:40

three million dollars in cash. But

7:42

Cleution was wealthy before he turned his

7:44

operation criminal. Here's federal prosecutor

7:47

Stephen Frank who investigated the case.

7:50

He was a lot like the kind of people

7:52

that we prosecute for white collar crime here in

7:54

the United States every day who don't

7:56

really need to turn to white collar crime

7:58

in order to be successful. because they

8:00

already are successful. He was

8:03

wealthy. He had a very nice house. He

8:05

had very nice cars. He had a country

8:07

house. But he wanted more,

8:10

like so many of our defendants do.

8:12

And he found a way to get

8:14

access to easy money, and he took it. FBI

8:17

Special Agent David Hitchcock agrees. Vladislav

8:20

Klyushin was a successful businessman before

8:23

he began engaging in the insider trading.

8:25

So if he's already wealthy, he's a

8:27

rich guy. He lives in Moscow. Why

8:29

do this? I think

8:31

the same way individuals here in the United States commit

8:34

crime that's financially motivated. It's

8:37

greed. Straight up. That

8:39

was my takeaway. Klyushin, who was

8:41

born in 1980, wasn't always rich. He

8:44

grew up poor, and he had to hustle to get

8:46

ahead. He's the son of a single

8:48

teen mother, and he's never known his father. He

8:51

started working at age 13 to help

8:53

lift his family out of poverty. But

8:55

his brain power took him far, graduating from

8:57

the Moscow Academy of Economics and Law, and

9:00

going on to get a master's degree

9:02

in management. By the

9:04

time he opens the cybersecurity company M13, he's

9:07

successful and well-loved by his

9:09

employees. His team at M13 is

9:11

a social group. There are birthday parties

9:13

with hats, cake, and singing. No

9:16

more cake, yes. No more

9:18

cake, yes. No more crap, no

9:20

more cake. And

9:23

rooftop barbecues with the gang from the office. Several

9:26

M13 staff members say Klyushin helps them

9:28

get access to top hospitals in Moscow

9:30

when they or a family member are

9:32

sick. By this time, Klyushin is

9:35

also a family man. He

9:37

married his second wife, Jana, at

9:39

an exclusive country club outside Moscow,

9:41

posing for pictures with his new

9:43

bride, driving a convertible Porsche and

9:45

embracing under a heavily laden trellis

9:47

of roses. The

9:50

couple produces an extensive highlight video

9:52

of the wedding, featuring scenes of

9:55

Klyushin jogging and swimming, and

9:57

his wife drinking champagne and lying on an

9:59

outside room. door canopy bed covered

10:01

in flowers. It's all set to

10:03

a blissful soundtrack. In

10:05

the video, a youthful Cleution has brown

10:08

hair combed to the side, deep brown

10:10

eyes, and a dimpled chin. He's

10:12

just hitting that stage of life where

10:14

prosperous men start to get a little

10:17

stocky, and he's got the slightest

10:19

tinge of gray coming in at his temples. Between

10:22

his two marriages, Cleution is the father of

10:24

five children. The company and

10:26

the family are both fueled by

10:28

Cleution's spectacular success in business. But

10:31

the secret to that success is

10:33

not in his technical skills. In

10:35

fact, Cleution doesn't have any specialized

10:37

computer skills at all. What

10:39

he does have are contacts. He

10:43

was a well-connected guy, and he

10:45

was enormously successful. Cleution knows

10:47

highly placed people in the Russian

10:50

intelligence and defense worlds. In

10:52

June of 2020, Cleution received the

10:54

Russian Medal of Honor with documentation

10:56

signed by Vladimir Putin himself. He's

10:59

also connected to the Russian intelligence

11:01

service, the FSB, which is a

11:03

successor to the notorious Cold War

11:06

intelligence agency, the KGB. Cleution

11:08

even received an award from the FSB.

11:11

The inscription expresses sincere gratitude to

11:13

you for the productive and effective

11:15

collaboration and ensuring security of the

11:18

Russian Federation in the information sphere.

11:21

It's signed by the deputy director of

11:23

the FSB. Now

11:25

we don't know exactly what Cleution

11:27

did to earn this spying award,

11:29

but we do know Cleution is

11:31

a guy who's hanging around some

11:33

seriously high-powered spies. At

11:36

some point along the way, Cleution makes

11:38

his most important contact yet. He

11:40

connects with a young computer hacker named

11:43

Ivan Ermikov, who becomes an employee of

11:45

Cleution's firm M13. Very quickly,

11:48

the two men strike up a business

11:50

partnership and something of a

11:52

bromance. Suddenly, business and

11:54

life are good. Here's

11:56

prosecutor Seth Costo. One

11:59

of the things that was... curious about the

12:01

case was the interrelationship between collusion and Ermikov.

12:03

They were thick as thieves

12:06

very quickly for two men

12:08

who really didn't have much contact with each

12:11

other before 2018. Once

12:15

their operation is up and running, they're

12:17

in near constant contact. They go out

12:19

drinking and they sauna together naked. The

12:22

FBI finds videos and pictures on their

12:24

devices showing the two men at fancy

12:26

dinners. In one, Ermikov is

12:28

at a candle lit restaurant holding his

12:30

knife and fork dramatically over an impossibly

12:33

large hunk of meat. In

12:35

another, they pose with Cleution's wife and

12:37

Ermikov's girlfriend. The setting appears

12:39

to be a high end cocktail party. Cleution

12:42

is in a tailored dress shirt and slacks

12:45

with an expensive looking watch on his left

12:47

wrist. His wife is in a polka

12:49

dotted dress, a glass of wine in her right hand.

12:52

Ermikov wears jeans and a sweater and he

12:54

has a proud grin on his face as

12:56

his girlfriend hooks her elbow through his arm.

12:58

The photo radiates confidence and

13:01

elegance. We

13:03

see more casual images too. Ermikov

13:05

working on his golf swing at a driving

13:08

range. And when the Soccer

13:10

World Cup comes to Russia, it's a

13:12

point of pride for Vladimir Putin's regime

13:14

and a huge global event. They're caught

13:16

up in the excitement as players score

13:18

goals. Cleution

13:22

and his crew are all in on the

13:24

games. The images captured by

13:26

the FBI show them eating, drinking,

13:28

celebrating and showing off their Russian

13:30

colors with temporary tattoos of the

13:32

Russian flag painted on their cheeks.

13:35

The oligarch and the hacker also share

13:37

a fondness for helicopter skiing and videos

13:39

show them sweaty and exhausted but looking

13:42

happy inside a chopper. The

13:45

buddies shop for expensive things. Cleution

13:47

buys a luxury apartment for Ermikov

13:49

and buys himself a yacht worth

13:51

almost four million dollars called the

13:53

7K from a shipyard in Cyprus.

13:56

At one point, Cleution sends a text to

13:58

Ermikov telling him enjoys being

14:00

with him. These are voice

14:02

actors reading each man's texts. Cleution

14:05

We spend a lot of time together.

14:07

I feel good and calm. The

14:10

fact that we can walk home

14:12

together and have a beer, or

14:14

play golf, or simply send everyone

14:17

to hell knowing that you're close.

14:19

Ermikoff teases Cleution about his outburst

14:22

of emotion. This truly sounds

14:24

like a nice declaration of love. Like a

14:26

declaration of love to a girl. I

14:28

asked prosecutor Steven Frank about this. I mean,

14:30

it sounds like a bromance. It was definitely

14:32

a bromance between those two. Thank

14:35

you all for listening to this preview of

14:37

the Crimes of Putin's Traitor. If you want

14:39

to find out what happens next, you can

14:41

get the full episode right now. Follow and

14:44

listen to the Crimes of Putin's Traitor wherever

14:46

you get your podcasts. They

14:51

are the families of the missing

14:53

in America. And they're

14:56

desperately searching for answers. Somebody

14:59

knows something. I'm Josh

15:01

Bankeletz. Join me for season three

15:03

of Missing in America. Listen

15:06

carefully. Because just one

15:08

small detail might allow

15:10

you to solve a mystery. We

15:12

have seen miracles happen. Dateline, Missing

15:15

in America. All episodes available now,

15:17

wherever you get your podcasts.