US special agents have concluded that a Turkish passport holder listed as the largest shareholder of a Cyprus company at the centre of a US fraud case is in fact Russian.
A Phileleftheros check of the Registrar of Companies file for Oxygen Forensics Limited found the shareholder, Fatih Osman, holding 12,568 shares. According to the agents, he is a Russian national, identified by the initials O.F., who obtained a Turkish passport in 2023. That Russian name also appears in the company’s shareholder records from previous years.
US investigators found that the Cyprus company owns Virginia-based Oxygen Forensics Inc, which sold US security agencies licences for software that extracts data from electronic devices. In a sworn statement to the court, a US special agent said the Cyprus company is owned and controlled by Russian nationals and that the software was developed in Russia.
The charges
The US Justice Department has charged Lee Reiber, 55, chief executive of Oxygen Forensics Inc, and Russian national Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Both men were arrested on Sunday, September 20, Davydov at London’s Heathrow Airport before he could board a flight to Istanbul.
Reiber was released on bail, while US authorities are moving to have Davydov extradited. Davydov is portrayed as the mastermind of the affair. The Justice Department said the complaint does not allege that the software contained malicious code.
The Cyprus company’s file lists Davydov among its shareholders. Its shareholding has changed at least seven times since 2016.
The allegations
The case centres on allegations that executives at Oxygen Forensics Inc carefully hid the company’s true ownership while working with US agencies. The Justice Department said Reiber “allegedly represented to the government that the company had no foreign ownership or control and that its software was developed in the United States”. US special agents found this was false.
It is also alleged that the Cyprus company’s shareholders owned Oxygen Russia, whose clients included the FSB, Russia’s security and counter-intelligence service, and other Russian security agencies.
Questions for Cypriot authorities
Alexis Mavros, an independent digital forensics expert and director of ISS Forensics, told Phileleftheros that the Trade Service should answer for export controls and licences, the Registrar of Companies for the company records within its remit, and the National Sanctions Implementation Unit (EMEK), working with other authorities, for sanctions matters. He noted that EMEK was set up under Law 150(I)/2025, while Law 149(I)/2025 sets out offences and penalties for breaching EU restrictive measures.
“Specific answers are needed,” Mavros said. He asked whether the activity had been examined, whether licences were required and in place, whether end users had been checked and whether the new information was being assessed.
Where the law limits what can be disclosed, he said, the authorities can still explain their procedures and responsibilities as far as they are allowed.
