WASHINGTON — The White House announced Thursday a large-scale, multinational prisoner exchange between the United States, Russia and other countries. As part of the historic deal, the Russian government released high-profile Americans held there, including Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Grishkovich, who had been in a Russian prison for more than a year.

Many Russians were also involved in this trade who were arrested for various crimes and imprisoned in the United States and other countries.

Among the group was a wealthy young Russian businessman named Vladislav Klushen – who had been imprisoned in federal prison for his role in one of the most damaging insider trading schemes in Wall Street history.

For the past year, CNBC has been working on a documentary about the spectacular rise and fall of Clevesian and his business empire.

The story begins in early 2021, when a private jet carrying a young Russian oligarch and his wife lands at the small Sion airport in the Swiss Alps.

Sion is the gateway to the famous ski resort of Zermatt, where the world’s elite go to ski and party. But the airport is still an hour from the slopes, so the really rich take tarmac and board helicopters straight to the resort.

The young oligarch was at the height of his powers. He had built a spectacularly successful company in Moscow and established contacts at the highest levels of the Russian government.

His efforts brought him the ultimate reward: he worked for the office of the Russian president. Vladimir Putin.

What the oligarch didn’t know was that US law enforcement agencies had been monitoring his flight since it left Moscow.

Or that they were planning to capture him and charge him with crimes that hit the heart of the American financial system.

The man on the private jet in Switzerland was named Vladislav Kloshen and he owned a cyber security company called M-13 in Moscow.

But M-13 was a front for Closhan’s real business – hacking into American companies and stealing classified information, then using that information to trade on Wall Street before it became public.

It was a multi-layered crime: illegal insider trading made possible by illegal hacking. And it made Closhan very rich. The victims of his crimes are investors in famous companies like American. Tesla, The year And Sketchers.

Welcome to the dangerous underworld of the global financial system. Here, markets are another arena for great powers to demonstrate their strength and undermine their rivals.

The Kremlin sees America’s capital markets as the country’s key strength, and therefore a prime target for attack.

“This is a war between Russia and the West right now,” said a former high-ranking member of Russia’s FSB intelligence service. CNBC spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the crimes in detail. Fear for your safety.

CNBC has spent months investigating the criminal network, which represents one of the most damaging cases of insider trading in Wall Street history.

But it’s not over yet.

To the contrary, our reporting revealed a persistent, ongoing, threat to US companies, investors and the markets themselves.

The product of this year-long project is the documentary above, called “Putin’s Trader.” It features exclusive access to FBI agents and US prosecutors charged with bringing down the criminal organization, and new reporting on the incredible lifestyles of the oligarch and his cronies as they build their had benefited from illegal trade. Called a limited podcast series. “Putin’s Businessman Crimes” It will be released on August 15.

As for Closhan, federal prosecutor Steven Frank said, he was “very much like the people we prosecute here in America every day for white-collar crime. Those who really don’t want to turn to white-collar crime.” No need to be successful, because they are already successful.”

“He was rich. He had a great house. He had great cars. He had a country house,” said Frank, who worked on the case. “But he wanted more, as many of our defendants do, and he found a way to get access to easy money. And he took it.”

Watch “Putin’s Businessman” For the full story.