US-Registered Digital Forensics Firm Oxygen Forensics Secretly Run from Russia, DOJ Charges Executives

A U.S.-registered company that supplied digital forensics software to police agencies across the European Union and the United States was in fact operated from Russia, according to documents reviewed by Politico. Oxygen Forensics, which specializes in extracting and analyzing data from smartphones and computers, maintained contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and participated in two EU-funded projects, EVIDENCE and INSPECTr, designed for European law enforcement.

Following the company’s involvement in those EU projects, police forces in Germany, Italy, and Poland purchased Oxygen’s products, Politico reported. On September 23, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of Oxygen’s chief executive, Lee Reiber, and Russian national Oleg Davydov, charging them with conspiracy to commit fraud. The indictment alleges that the defendants hid from U.S. authorities the fact that the company was controlled by Russian citizens and that its software was developed in Russia.

Politico also reported that five Russian managers of Oxygen Forensics simultaneously controlled a Russian firm, MKO Systems, which sold comparable forensic tools to Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service (FSB). Prosecutors contend that after Washington imposed sanctions on Russia in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian owners began concealing their ownership stakes and the continued development of the software inside Russia.