Russian basketball player held in France on US hacking charges

French authorities have arrested a Russian pro basketball player at the request of the United States, where he is wanted for allegedly taking part in a ransomware hacking ring, a Paris court heard Wednesday.

Daniil Kasatkin, who played college basketball at Penn State University in the United States and until recently as a professional for Moscow's MBA-MAI, was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on June 21, officials said.

He is accused by US authorities of negotiating payoffs for a gang that hacked the computer systems of around 900 companies and two federal government entities in the United States from 2020 to 2022, demanding money to end their attacks.

Kasatkin, 26, denies the accusations.

"He bought a used computer. He did absolutely nothing wrong. He's shocked," his lawyer, Frederic Belot, told AFP.

"He's useless with computers, he can't even install an app. He didn't touch anything on this computer. It was either hacked, or sold to him by a hacker who wanted to pass himself off as someone else."

The court denied bail for Kasatkin, who faces potential extradition.

Belot said Kasatkin, who had recently gotten engaged and had come to France with his fiancee, was suffering from deteriorating physical condition in jail, putting his basketball career at risk.

Kasatkin played four seasons with MBA-MAI, twice finishing third in the Russian Basketball Cup.

He played briefly as a guard for Penn State in several games in the 2018-2019 season.