Wealthy Russian wins free legal advice – for now

SEATTLE – A federal judge will not make a Russian man accused of hacking U.S. businesses pay for his court-appointed attorneys.

Federal prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Richard Jones to force Roman Seleznev to pay for his federal public defenders. They argued that he lived a lavish lifestyle before his arrest in the Maldives in July and made millions stealing credit card numbers from U.S. businesses and restaurants. He is in custody awaiting a Nov. 2 trial on a 40-count indictment on charges of wire fraud, computer hacking and identity theft.

But Seleznev lawyers told the judge he no longer has access to those funds or the ability to liquidate any assets.

In his ruling released Thursday, Jones said he agreed with that claim.

“The evidence the government has advanced clearly suggests a life of luxury including credit card records indicating he spent $130,000 on personal expenses during a 20-month time span, $40,000 on air travel, $22,000 on hotels in Indonesia and Russia, $790,000 for two apartments in Bali, not to mention photographs of the defendant with large amounts of cash and videos showing high-end automobiles allegedly owned by the defendant and his associates,” the judge said.

“But there’s no evidence to suggest he has access to any of those resources at this time,” Jones said.

Seleznev may gain the ability to pay for his lawyers in the future and federal prosecutors can renew their motion for reimbursement if that happens, Jones said.

Still pending is Seleznev’s motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing his arrest in the Maldives was illegal – a claim federal prosecutors have denied.