US-Based Digital Forensics Firm Hid its Russian Ownership from U.S. Government Customers

US-Based Digital Forensics Firm Hid its Russian Ownership from U.S. Government Customers

The U.S. Department of War, Secret Service, and other federal departments and agencies unwittingly purchased digital forensics software from a Virginia-based firm owned by Russian nationals and developed in Russia. This revelation comes from a complaint filed by the Justice Department following the arrest of two of the company’s officers. 🚨

Oxygen Forensics is a leading firm in the digital forensics industry, holding contracts with several U.S. federal agencies, including the IRS, U.S. Army, DHS, and the Justice Department. Prosecutors allege that the company’s owners deceived federal customers regarding both foreign ownership and the origin of their forensic software development.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles announced today the arrest of two officers charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Lee Reiber, the 55-year-old American CEO, was arrested in Idaho, while Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, a 52-year-old Russian national and co-founder, was apprehended at Heathrow Airport in London.

Oxygen Forensics provides software utilized by law enforcement and government agencies to extract data from mobile phones, computers, and other digital devices, including drone data from cloud platforms. Its clientele extends beyond the U.S. to include Russian agencies like the FSB and the Russian Investigative Committee.

Prosecutors clarify that there is no allegation of malicious code embedded in the software or unauthorized access to customer systems. The focus of the charges is the alleged deception regarding the company’s ownership and software development location.

Davydov co-founded the company in Russia in 2000 under the name Oxygen Software and helped establish its U.S. presence in 2013 as Oxygen Forensics. The U.S. office is located in Alexandria, Virginia. Allegations suggest that the company began deceiving customers about its ownership in 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions against Russian-owned firms.

To conceal its Russian ownership, the defendants changed the name of Oxygen Russia to MKO-Systems, appointed Reiber as CEO, and removed the names of Russian owners from public filings. Davydov also relocated the software build infrastructure to U.S.-based cloud servers, allowing Reiber to falsely claim that the software was developed in the U.S.

In 2024, Reiber allegedly certified to the U.S. government that the company had no foreign control, leading to a five-year contract awarded by the NCFI without knowledge of the company’s true ownership.

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