Russian detention extended for Israeli-Canadian influencer wanted in U.S. for fraud

Canadian-Israeli influencer arrested in Russia Joshua Cartu, a wealthy Canadian-Israeli influencer and race-car driver, was reportedly detained at an airport in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Police in St Petersburg have detained an Israeli-Canadian racing car driver wanted by the United States for alleged large-scale fraud relating to an illegal online stock trading scheme, the city's court system said on Wednesday evening.

The man, Joshua Cartu, is wanted, alongside his brothers David and Jonathan and several others, for allegedly operating a fraudulent binary options trading scheme between 2013 and 2018 that defrauded investors of millions of dollars, according to a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission statement from May 2020.

The St Petersburg court service said Cartu had been detained on Aug. 19 at Pulkovo airport. It identified him as a citizen of Israel and Canada and said he was "wanted by the United States of America." It was not immediately clear when Cartu arrived in Russia.

On Wednesday, the court extended his detention by 72 hours. Reuters was not able to determine if Cartu had a lawyer.

A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, the country's foreign affairs department, said it was "aware of an arrest involving a Canadian in Russia" and that Canadian officials had reached out to local authorities to offer consular assistance, declining further comment.

The Israeli embassy did not immediately respond to a comment request.

The court said Cartu could be charged under Russia's fraud statute, which carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

"Cartu is not employed, has no permanent place of residence in St. Petersburg, but he has a passport of a foreign citizen, which makes it possible (for him) to cross the border of the Russian Federation without hindrance, thus preventing an extradition inspection," the court said.

Moscow and Washington do not have an extradition treaty.

The U.S. embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cartu was separately accused of fraud in Canada relating to a fraudulent binary options scheme targeting Ontarians, according to a September 2020 statement from the Ontario Securities Commission.

Cartu's arrest comes less than a month after Russia and the West, led by the United States, conducted the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, exchanging 16 people held in Russia and Belarus for eight Russians jailed in the West.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Alex Richardson)