Feds accuse Secret Service software provider of hiding Russian ties

Federal prosecutors arrested Oxygen Forensics CEO Lee Reiber and Russian co-owner Oleg Davydov, charging both with conspiracy to commit wire fraud over claims the Virginia company hid that it was owned and controlled by five Russian nationals and built its software in Russia. The company sold its digital forensics tools, used to extract data from phones and devices, to the U.S. Secret Service and other government customers.

Prosecutors say Reiber knew as early as 2018 that the government had concerns about Russian-developed software, and in 2022 arranged to initiate the software build on U.S. cloud infrastructure so he could claim domestic development while the actual code was still written and managed in Russia. When a reporter asked about the Russian connection in 2023, Reiber allegedly warned his co-owners that the disclosure 'could destroy this entire opportunity.'

In September 2024 the National Computer Forensics Institute awarded the company a five-year contract worth up to $12 million, based partly on Reiber's certification that it had no foreign ownership. The Russian sister company also sells its software to Russia's own secret service.

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