A Russian tech expert mentioned in a salacious report alleging ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russian hackers says the accusations are false — and that he's never been contacted about them, news publisher McClatchy reported Wednesday.
The 35-page document compiled by a former British spy as opposition research against Trump was posted Tuesday by BuzzFeed.
The report included unsubstantiated claims of collusion between the Trump campaign team and Moscow — and that Dallas-based global tech firm XBT Holding, which owns Webzilla, was instrumental in the hack of leaked Democratic Party emails.
XBT owner Aleksej Gubarev told McClatchy he was shocked to see his name turn up.
"I don't know why I was there," Gubarev told the McClatchy during a phone interview from his home in Cyprus. "I still don't understand the true reason for this report."
According to the news outlet, mention of Webzilla and Gubarev were among the more specific allegations in the document — including that XBT and affiliates "had been using botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs, steal data and conduct 'altering operations' against the Democratic Party leadership."
Gubarev denied that, asserting there's no evidence in any of the 75,000 servers around the world that would have immediately detected hacking or illicit activity.
"I have a physical office in Dallas. Nobody contacted me," he added.
The report also alleges Gubarev and another hacking expert were recruited under duress by the FSB, the Russian intelligence-agency successor to the KGB.
Gubarev denied that as well — and said he's ready to talk to law enforcement any time they want.
"I'm ready for any investigation. I'm ready to cooperate with everybody," he told McClatchy.
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