(St. Petersburg) A Russian court on Saturday ordered the release of an Israeli-Canadian citizen, Joshua Cartu, who was arrested earlier this week at the request of the United States for alleged financial crimes.
Nicknamed the “Ferrari fugitive,” the racing driver and entrepreneur is accused, along with his brothers, of defrauding investors of millions of dollars.
He was arrested on Monday by the Russian Interpol unit at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport following a wanted notice from the United States.
The Moskovsky District Court of St. Petersburg decided on Saturday to “terminate the proceedings” against Mr. Cartu, specifying that Russia had not received a formal extradition request from the United States.
Russia does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, but the two countries last month carried out a major prisoner swap involving opposition figures and journalists on one side and suspected spies on the other.
The press service of the St. Petersburg courts said that Mr. Cartu is the subject of an Interpol “red notice” because of accusations that between 2013 and 2017 he and a group of people defrauded investors in the United States for an amount of approximately 60 million dollars.
In 2021, the U.S. government filed fraud charges against Mr. Cartu and others, including his two brothers, David and Jonathan, for conspiracy to commit fraud.
Mr Cartu’s Instagram and Facebook accounts are followed by hundreds of thousands of people and feature a luxurious lifestyle and racing cars.
In interviews with British media, he has described himself as a technology and racing car entrepreneur, owning his own fleet of Ferraris.
Canada’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it was “aware of the arrest of a Canadian in Russia” and had offered consular assistance.