Espionage by New York Russian Banker Domiciled at Vnesheconombank (VEB)
Federal prosecutors arrested a Russian banker in New York yesterday and charged him with espionage, along with two Russian SVR agents (Russia‘s foreign intelligence service), who served as his ‘‘‘handlers,‘ both under diplomatic cover. The banker, Evgeny Buryakov (also known as ‘‘‘Zhenya‘) worked at the Manhattan office of state-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB) and was allegedly seeking intelligence on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), U.S. energy resources and U.S. sanctions against Moscow. Curiously, the identity of the Russian bank that employed Buryakov has often not appeared in articles about the arrest, including that which appeared in the Financial Times (FT). For example, the FT stated that Mr. Buryakov ‘‘‘worked as an employee of a Russian bank.‘ Perhaps this is a case of misguided professional courtesy or just a misstep.