Canadian-Israeli influencer and race car driver Joshua Cartu detained in Russia: reports

Canadian-Israeli influencer and race car driver Joshua Cartu has reportedly been detained in Russia.

Cartu, 45, was stopped by Russian Interpol officers at Pulkovo Airport near St. Petersburg on Monday, according to Russian news site 47news, as well as the Moscow Times.

Cartu is wanted by U.S. authorities after he allegedly defrauded investors of millions of dollars through an illegal online stock trading scheme, Moscow Times reported.

He was not officially arrested, but will be held for up to two days as the Russian authorities await confirmation that he is under investigation in the U.S., according to a police source. He could then be formally arrested.

Global Affairs Canada said it is “aware of an arrest involving a Canadian in Russia,” but did not identify the individual in a statement to the National Post over email.

“Canadian officials reached out to local authorities for information and to offer consular assistance,” said Global Affairs spokesperson Kevin Sweet.

“Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed.”

Cartu has a large online presence on social media. His Instagram account, where he shows off luxury cars and his travels, has 685,000 followers. He has not posted photos since December 2023.

Cartu was featured in Forbes Magazine in 2016 and discussed his entrepreneurial endeavours and race car driving. In November 2022, Canadian magazine Toronto Life published an exposé on Cartu and his brothers called the “The Ferrari Fugitives.”

“Behind their playboy façades was a dark secret: they had thousands of jilted investors and an army of investigators on their tail,” per the Toronto Life article.

In September 2020, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accused Cartu and others of “operating a fraudulent binary options trading scheme that received over $165 million in connection with illegal, off-exchange binary option transactions on currency pairs, oil, and other commodities,” according to a news release.

Cartu was also accused of fraud in Canada.

In May 2020, Ontario Securities Commission alleged that Cartu and others “obtained $1.4 million from approximately 700 Ontario investors” and “lied about the location of their operations, used aliases, and obscured their connection to payment processing companies they owned and operated.”

The CFTC reportedly dismissed charges against Cartu in March 2023, per online publication FinTelegram News.

It was reported that Cartu had been living in Budapest, Hungary.

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