Mar.29, 2010

A reputed mobster with a U.S. criminal record has been illegally residing in the country, the Federal Security Service said Friday, thus removing a main obstacle to extradition to Spain.

An investigation by the Federal Migration Service found that Leonid Kaplan illegally obtained a Russian passport in 2003 and has been illegally living in the country since mid-2009, the FSB said in a statement carried by news agencies.

The decision removes a main obstacle to extradition that Russia refuses to enact on its own citizens.

Born in 1946 in Novosibirsk, Kaplan emigrated in 1976 from the Soviet Union to Israel. He became a U.S. citizen under the name of Leon Lann in 1985, the FSB said.

In 1997, a Los Angeles district court issued an arrest warrant for Lann on fraud charges, but he managed to flee to Russia, and U.S. prosecutors did not put him on an international wanted list, the Rosbalt.ru news site reported earlier this month.

In Moscow, Kaplan set up casinos and has been linked to a large money-laundering scheme overseen by convicted Georgian crime boss Sakhar Kalashov from Spain, the report said.

The FSB said Friday that Kaplan was wanted for his association with Kalashov, who has been imprisoned in Spain since 2006.

Kaplan is wanted by Spanish police on charges of money laundering and membership in a criminal organization. He has been on an Interpol wanted list since 2006 and was arrested in Moscow on March 6, the FSB said.

The warrant is part of a large-scale organized crime investigation spearheaded by Spanish police that led to the arrest of more than 80 suspected gang members throughout Europe earlier this month.

The Spanish Embassy has refused to comment on extradition requests for Kaplan and three other suspected organized crime members.

Among those sought by Spain is Tariel Oniani, believed to be one of the most powerful members of the Russian mafia, known as thieves-in-law. Oniani is currently in detention in Moscow, and national media have speculated that his Russian citizenship might also be revoked.