LOS ANGELES — The CEO of a Virginia software company and a Russian national were arrested on allegations that they concealed the company’s Russian ownership and the origin of its software while selling digital forensics tools to U.S. government agencies, officials announced Wednesday.
Lee Reiber, 55, of Boise, Idaho, and Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52, of Moscow, are charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Reiber was arrested in Idaho and released on bond after an initial court appearance.
Davydov was arrested at London Heathrow Airport before a flight to Istanbul; U.S. authorities expect to seek his extradition.
Prosecutors say five Russian nationals, including Davydov, owned and controlled Alexandria-based Oxygen Forensics Inc. through a Cyprus holding company.
The company allegedly told federal agencies it had no foreign ownership or control and that its software was developed in the United States.
According to the complaint, a team in Russia developed and managed the software under Davydov’s direction.
Defendants are presumed innocent unless they are proven guilty.
The distinction mattered to agencies buying software used to recover, preserve and analyze data from electronic devices.
Quick facts
- Defendants: Lee Reiber, 55, and Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52.
- Charge: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
- Company: Oxygen Forensics Inc., based in Alexandria, Virginia.
- Core allegation: The defendants concealed Russian ownership and software development from federal customers.
- Arrests: Reiber in Idaho; Davydov at London Heathrow Airport.
- Seizure: Approximately 57 domains, related infrastructure and corporate bank accounts.
- Important limit: The complaint does not allege malicious code or unauthorized access to customer systems or data.
- Case status: A criminal complaint is an allegation, not a conviction.
Each defendant faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors describe concealed ownership
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Reiber became Oxygen Forensics’ CEO, president and board chairman in March 2022, after the United States expanded sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian owners were removed from public corporate filings but allegedly continued to direct significant decisions, control bank accounts and set Reiber’s compensation.
Reiber certified in 2022 and 2023 that Oxygen Forensics had no immediate or highest-level owner, prosecutors say. In September 2024, the Secret Service’s National Computer Forensics Institute awarded the company a five-year software contract. Its award file included one of those certifications.
The affidavit says a reporter asked Reiber in November 2023 about the company’s ownership and ties to a Russian software firm. In a message to Davydov and two other Russian owners, Reiber warned that public reporting “could destroy this entire opportunity,” referring to the pending contract.
Prosecutors also allege that Oxygen Forensics concealed where its software was made. Reiber told DHS personnel in March 2026 that no Russians were involved in its development and that no one in Russia could access the environment where it was built, according to the complaint. Days later, he published a company statement saying it had no development presence in a restricted jurisdiction.
Federal authorities seized approximately 57 domains, related cyberinfrastructure and corporate bank accounts under a separate warrant issued Sept. 19, according to the Justice Department.