DOJ Charges Oxygen Forensics Executives with Wire Fraud Over Concealed Russian Ownership
The Department of Justice announced the arrest of two executives from Oxygen Forensics, a digital forensics firm with contracts across multiple U.S. federal agencies, on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The allegations center on the company’s deliberate concealment of its Russian ownership and development origins, despite selling its software to U.S. law enforcement and intelligence bodies.
Oxygen CEO Lee Reiber, 55, of Boise, Idaho, was arrested on Sunday and released on bond. Moscow resident Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52, the company’s chief technology officer, was arrested the same day in London. U.S. authorities plan to seek his extradition to face trial in the United States. Both men face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Alleged Misrepresentations to U.S. Agencies
According to a DOJ affidavit, Reiber told government agencies interested in contracting with Oxygen that its software was developed in the United States. In reality, prosecutors allege, five Russian nationals — including Davydov — owned and controlled the company, and the software was developed in Russia. To obscure this structure, the Russian owners allegedly used a holding company based in Cyprus, while Oxygen maintained formal headquarters in Virginia.
The DOJ states that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of new U.S. sanctions, the company’s owners removed Russian names from corporate filings. Reiber assumed the roles of CEO, president, and chairman of the board in March 2022, shortly before these changes were made. However, prosecutors allege that the Russian owners continued to exert control: they made significant decisions, overruled Reiber on payments, set his compensation, and retained signatory authority over company bank accounts.
Contracts with DHS, DOD, and NCFI Amid Ongoing Deception
Despite the alleged deception, Oxygen’s software was adopted by multiple U.S. agencies. The Departments of Defense and Homeland Security purchased the firm’s products. Specific DHS components using Oxygen’s technology included the Secret Service, the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI), Homeland Security Investigations, and the Office of the Inspector General.
In November 2023, after a journalist questioned Reiber about the company’s Russian ties, prosecutors allege he messaged Davydov warning that media attention "could destroy this entire opportunity." The "opportunity" referenced was reportedly a pending contract with the NCFI. In September 2024, the NCFI signed a five-year agreement with Oxygen, during which Reiber certified that the company had no "immediate or higher level owner."
Nearly a year later, in 2025, Oxygen reportedly certified to the Department of Defense that "no foreign person had the power to control the appointment of the company's directors or managers or to direct its other decisions or activities." In 2026, Reiber allegedly told DHS officials that no Russians were involved in the creation of its software.
Broader Context and Seizure of Assets
On September 20, U.S. authorities seized approximately 57 domains, cyber infrastructure components, and corporate bank accounts linked to Oxygen Forensics. The company’s website has been seized and taken offline. Oxygen claims its tools enable investigators to extract and analyze data from mobile devices, cloud services, and drones, and states it holds nearly 10,000 contracts across more than 150 countries.
The firm is a direct competitor to Cellebrite, another prominent digital forensics provider whose work with authoritarian governments has attracted international scrutiny. Authorities emphasized that there is no allegation that Oxygen’s software was deployed to gain unauthorized access to customer data, nor is there evidence that it contained malicious code.
Reaction from Digital Rights Advocates
Digital rights organizations have long questioned Oxygen’s ties to Russia. Natalia Krapiva, senior tech legal counsel at Access Now, warned that no surveillance tool should be used in U.S. investigations without transparent ownership and supply chain knowledge. She noted that the same software sold to U.S. law enforcement was used by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to extract data from the phones of anti-war activists, which was then used to support criminal charges.
"When governments buy technologies from shady companies like Oxygen and take their word for it, we don't just risk our own security, but we also risk funding someone else's repression," Krapiva added. The case underscores ongoing concerns about the risks posed by opaque foreign ownership in critical technology supply chains, especially when those technologies are deployed in sensitive government investigations.
Source: The Record