Russian National Behind ‘Methbot’ Loses Bid to Undo Conviction

A Russian national convicted of operating a multimillion-dollar digital advertising fraud scheme, dubbed “Methbot,” lost his Second Circuit appeal arguing his Sixth Amendment speedy trial rights were violated.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed that a 27-month delay is “unquestionably a long period of incarceration.” But given the complexity of the case, the volume of discovery, and the impact of a global pandemic, there was no error in the district court finding that there was a “neutral” or otherwise valid justification for the delay.

Aleksandr Zhukov had asked the district court to dismiss the indictment on ...