Dmitrii Yevgenyevich Kushnarev
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 26410 / September 24, 2025
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Dmitrii Yevgenyevich Kushnarev(a/k/a Blazys Algimantas, Ramunas Bukusinskas, Saulius Cvetkauskas, Olegs Dukalevs, Vitaly Ershov, Sergei Guliugin, Stanislav Iasiukevich, Ula Kairiene, Oskaras Korsunovas, Ilja Krumberg, Rimantas Labanauskas, Stanislav Lasiukevich, Edmundus Paskevicius, Aesop Pozdyshev, Denis Pozdyshev, Ruben Salguero Romero, Donatas Sestokas, Arnestas Skruibys, Dainius Sopranas, Dmytro Tkach, Reiko Valling, Ceslovas Verbauskas, and Mikhailo Zahorulko), No.1:25-cv-05412-WMR (N.D. Ga. filed Sept. 22, 2025)
SEC Charges Russian National in Account Takeover Scheme Involving U.S. Brokerage Accounts
On September 22, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Russian national Dmitrii Yevgenyevich Kushnarev for his role in a multi-year fraudulent scheme in which hundreds of U.S. retail brokerage accounts were hacked and improperly used to manipulate the price and trading volume of hundreds of securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ, or OTC Markets. Between at least 2014 and 2021, Kushnarev is alleged to have used over 20 fake identities to open over 100 foreign and domestic bank and brokerage accounts, and to have repeatedly used his brokerage accounts to trade profitably in securities that were simultaneously being manipulated by hackers through forced trades in the compromised U.S. brokerage accounts. Kushnarev is alleged to have generated approximately $31 million in gross proceeds from his trades, and approximately $1.5 million in net profits from the scheme.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that between at least 2014 and 2019, Kushnarev used the fake identities to open U.S. and foreign brokerage accounts and to trade profitably in a multitude of hacking attacks that focused on the manipulation of thinly traded equity securities. In those attacks, Kushnarev, or hackers with whom he was working, allegedly forced retail accounts at major online U.S. brokerages to purchase the thinly traded equities, which drove up prices and volume and allowed Kushnarev to profit by trading at artificially inflated prices. According to the SEC, in 2019 and through at least mid-2021, Kushnarev changed his focus to thinly traded options securities and began selling out-of-the-money call and put options in NYSE or NASDAQ securities directly to hacked accounts, which were forced to place artificially high bids for the options. In total, the SEC alleges that Kushnarev traded in at least 380 separate securities on the same day that those securities were the subject of manipulation through hacking attacks.
The SEC’s complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, charges Kushnarev with violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He also is charged with violating Section 9(a)(2) of the Exchange Act, which makes it unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to willfully effect a series of transactions in any security that creates actual or apparent active trading in that security, for the purpose of inducing trading in that security by others.
The SEC’s investigation is ongoing. The case is being supervised by Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit Chief Laura D’Allaird, Market Abuse Unit Chief Joseph Sansone, and Justin Jeffries of the Atlanta Regional Office. Robert Gordon of the Atlanta Regional Office will lead the SEC’s litigation, supervised by M. Graham Loomis.
The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Atlanta and New York field offices), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission, the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, the Central Bank of Hungary, the Central Bank of Ireland, the Bank of Lithuania, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the Czech National Bank, the Estonian Finantsinspektsioon, the Financial Market Authority of Austria, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, the Financial Supervisory Authority of Finland, the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa of Italy, the Latvijas Banka of Latvia, the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, the Malta Financial Services Authority, the National Bank of Slovakia, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the Québec Autorité des marchés financiers, the Securities Commission of The Bahamas, the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores of Spain, the Finansinspektionen of Sweden, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
To learn more about how to protect your online investment accounts from fraud, please visit the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy investor alerts webpage.