Russian-made Oxygen Forensics software was used to extract data from Hunter Biden’s laptop, RFE/RL reports

Oxygen Forensic Detective, whose Russian version is marketed as “Mobilny Kriminalist,” was used to examine the laptop of Hunter Biden, according to a report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, the younger Biden faced allegations of corruption and conflicts of interest, including claims based on files taken from his computer.

Former U.S. Secret Service agent Konstantinos “Gus” Dimitrelos discussed his work on the laptop investigation during a presentation in Alexandria, Virginia, in October 2024. RFE/RLobtained video of the event from a former Oxygen Forensics employee.

The Washington Examiner had commissioned Dimitrelos to conduct the analysis and published its findings in May and June 2022. When speaking about that work in 2024, Dimitrelos said:

“Oxygen is my number one tool. It's the only tool that I use. It's the only tool that I teach. I love it.”

Dimitrelos added that he had recovered over 160,000 deleted files, more than any other investigators had found.

Oxygen software has been used by the U.S. Department of Defense, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security, among others. The U.S. Secret Service terminated a five-year contract with the company in February, citing “security risks,” but the State Department nevertheless signed a new contract with Oxygen Forensics in late August.

The same software, sold in Russia under the name “Mobilny Kriminalist,” is supplied to the Federal Security Service (FSB) by Russian company MCO Systems and has been used in politically motivated cases in Russia. On Sept. 23, the U.S. Justice Department charged Oxygen Forensics CEO Lee Reiber and Chief Technology Officer Oleg Davydov of concealing that Russian citizens effectively controlled the company through a Cyprus offshore entity. Reiber was released on bail in Idaho, while Davydov is awaiting extradition to the United States after being detained at London’s Heathrow Airport.

According to prosecutors, the company’s shareholders discussed possible cooperation with the Russian state in early 2023, as evidenced by a document titled “General Staff, Citadel.”

The Insider previously reported that the FSB used “Mobilny Kriminalist” to gain access to the iPhone of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who in July 2024 was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for “spreading false information” about the Russian armed forces. Kurmasheva was subsequently released alongside former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and multiple others in a 26-person prisoner exchange between Russia and the West on Aug. 1, 2024.

On Oct. 1 of this year, The Telegraph reported that the London Metropolitan police had used Oxygen software at least 40 times over the previous year to access suspects’ phones. Law enforcement agencies in several European countries have stopped using the company’s software after the reports emerged about the company’s secret Russian owners.