BOISE — Federal law enforcement arrested a Boise man on Sunday, Sept. 20, on a complaint that he and a Russian national were allegedly running a Virginia-based software company in the United States without revealing to the U.S. government the company’s ties to Russia.

Not only are Russian nationals alleged to be running the company, but the U.S. Department of Justice alleges the software itself was developed in Russia.

Lee Reiber, 55, was arrested in Idaho on Sept. 20, according to a Department of Justice news release. Reiber appeared in U.S. District Court in Idaho on Tuesday, before being released on bond. Reiber’s expected to be arraigned in Central District of California Court in Los Angeles in a few weeks.

Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52, of Moscow, Russia, was arrested on Sunday at London Heathrow Airport prior to boarding a flight to Istanbul. The United States expects to seek Davydov’s extradition, the DOJ release states.

Both men were charged with one count of felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, the DOJ states.

Assistant United States Attorneys David C. Lachman of the Major Frauds Section and Joshua O. Mausner of the National Security Division are prosecuting the case, the DOJ states.

According to the DOJ, Reiber allegedly misled the U.S. government that the company Oxygen Forensics Inc. — a digital forensics company founded in in 2013 in Alexandria, Virginia — had “no foreign ownership or control and that its software was developed in the United States, when in fact, five Russian nationals, including Davydov, owned and controlled the company and its software was developed in Russia.”

Digital forensic software is used to recover, preserve and analyze electronic data from digital devices while keeping the original files unchanged.

While the complaint alleges the software was developed in Russia, it does not state the software “contained malicious code or that it was used to gain unauthorized access to any customer’s computer systems or data,” according to the DOJ.

An affidavit filed with the complaint, from March 2022, states Reiber, Davydov and others conspired to “obtain contracts from federal agencies through Oxygen Forensics.”

The affidavit “identifies the affected agencies as the U.S. Department of Defense and three components of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” the release states. “These components include the U.S. Secret Service and its National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI), Homeland Security Investigations and the DHS Office of Inspector General.”

On Sept. 19, a federal magistrate judge issued a warrant authorizing “the seizure of corporate bank accounts, approximately 57 domains and other cyberinfrastructure used in furtherance of the alleged acts,” the release states. “The domains and related infrastructure were seized on (Sunday).”

Oxygen Forensics, according to the affidavit, held itself out to the U.S. government as being an independent, U.S.-based company.

“In fact, Davydov and four other Russian nationals owned and controlled the company through a holding company based in Cyprus,” the release states.

“The same five individuals also owned a Russian company, known until September 2022 as Oxygen Software LLC and now as MKO Systems LLC, which Davydov co-founded in 2000,” the release states. “The developers who wrote the software worked in Russia and MKO sold the software in Russia under different product names to customers (who) reportedly included the Russian Federal Security Service, the Russian Investigative Committee and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

The DOJ states Davydov was the Russian company’s chief technology officer, was responsible for the development of its software and that he helped establish Oxygen Forensics in Virginia in 2013. The DOJ also states Reiber joined the company in August 2015.

EXPANDED SANCTIONS IN RUSSIA

In early 2022, after expanded sanctions because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Davydov, Reiber and the Russian co-conspirators “agreed to conceal Oxygen Forensics’ true ownership and the development of its software in Russia,” the DOJ states. “Reiber was installed as the company’s CEO, president and chairman of the board in March 2022. The Russian owners were then removed from the company’s public corporate filings.”

In December 2022 and October 2023, Reiber “falsely certified to the U.S. government that Oxygen Forensics had no immediate or highest-level owner,” the DOJ states.

According to the affidavit, in November 2023, a reporter asked Reiber about Oxygen Forensics’ ownership and its connection to the Russian company.

“Reiber then wrote to Davydov and two other Russian owners that public reporting on the connection ‘could destroy this entire opportunity,’ (which) referred to a pending contract with the National Computer Forensics Institute and that the ‘current existence of this company hangs in the balance,’” the DOJ states.

The NCFI awarded a five-year contract for the software in September 2024. The award file included Reiber’s October 2023 certification that the company had “no immediate or highest-level owner,” the DOJ states.

Then, allegedly at Reiber’s direction in July 2024, Oxygen Forensics certified to the Department of Defense “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,” the release states.

“As Reiber then knew, the company’s Russian owners were foreign persons who controlled its decisions and one of them had recently been appointed to its board under a Turkish identity,” the release states.

In March 2026, Reiber allegedly told DHS personnel no Russian was involved in developing the software and that no one in Russia had access to the environment in which it was built. Reiber also allegedly wrote a statement and published on the company’s website that “declared the company had no development presence in any restricted jurisdiction.”

But, according to the complaint, “the software was written and managed by a team in Russia under Davydov’s direction, in a cloud environment administered by one of the Russian owners.”

The United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security is investigating this case with assistance from the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Cyber Field Office. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs is assisting in the provisional arrest and anticipate extradition of Davydov.