The businessman has been described as a member of the "upper-echelon associates of Russian organized crime” by U.S. prosecutors in the past, and has links to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Trump associate and convicted felon Paul Manafort. In 2016 he was Ukraine’s 16th richest man, with an estimated net worth of US$251 million.
The specific allegations he faces include his organization of an international racketeering scheme to introduce illegally-obtained goods, such as titanium, to the U.S. market, as well as bribing public officials in other countries.
In 2016 a court in Barcelona also put out an international warrant for Firtash, saying he was suspected of having laundered millions of dollars through offshore companies.
Since his FBI-directed arrest in Vienna in 2014, he has fought against American extradition requests and appealed various Austrian court decisions to grant them.
He has consistently denied the suspected charges against him, in 2014 describing himself as being in the midst of a "battlefield for the two biggest global players of Russia and the United States.” His lawyers maintain that he has never been to the United States.
Austria’s justice minister Clemens Jabloner will be making the final decision as to whether to extradite Firtash.
