United States v. Courdy, Fellerman, Benoit, Kennedy, Quadri, Shoaib, Beebe, Young, Johnson, Sullivan, Crosswell, Bauer, Grabeel, and Vogel; and United States v. Flynn, LoConti, Ahmad, Munoz, Crespin, and St. Hill.

06/12/2023 – The Status Conference is held.  The parties are to submit by not later than June 27, 2023 a stipulation and proposed order to vacate all current status conferences and trial dates and to set a trial setting status conference for December 13, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.  Any dates currently scheduled by the court will remain until such time as the Court orders otherwise.

05/09/2023 – A status conference for all arraigned defendants is scheduled for June 5, 2023 at 3pm before Judge Scarsi.  Defendants COURDY, FELLERMAN, CROSSWELL, and BAUER are set for status conference on June 12, 2023 at 3pm and for jury trial starting June 27, 2023 at 8:30am before Judge Scarsi.  Defendants BEEBE, JOHNSON, and SULLIVAN are set for arraignment on May 23, 2023 at 1pm and defendants YOUNG, GRABEEL, and VOGEL are set for arraignment on May 24, 2023 at 1pm, all before the duty magistrate judge in Courtroom 880 of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and United States Courthouse, 255 East Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

05/03/2023 – On May 2, 2023, a federal court in Los Angeles, California unsealed an indictment charging 14 defendants for their participation in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from American consumers’ bank accounts between 2015 and 2022.   Defendants Edward Courdy, Veronica Crosswell, and Eric Bauer were arraigned on charges of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud.  Additional defendants were arrested in other states and will be arraigned in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

The individuals named in the indictment face charges for being members and associates of a racketeering enterprise that unlawfully debited money from the bank accounts of unknowing U.S. consumer-victims.  Through various members and associates, the enterprise obtained identifying and banking information for victims, and created shell entities, identified below, that claimed to offer products or services, such as cloud storage. The enterprise then executed unauthorized debits against victims’ bank accounts, which it falsely represented to banks were authorized by the victims. Some of the unauthorized debits resulted in returned transactions, which generated high return rates. To both conceal and continue conducting unauthorized debits, the enterprise’s shell entities also generated “micro debits” against other bank accounts controlled and funded by or for the enterprise. The micro debits artificially lowered shell entities’ return rates to levels that conspirators believed would reduce bank scrutiny and lessen potential negative impact on the enterprise’s banking relations. Foreign conspirators also relied on domestic conspirators to help conceal from domestic banks the scheme’s foreign connections.

Shell entities named in the indictment are:

24-7 Tech Support;
Cloud Block Storage;
CloudNV;
Dollar Web Sales;
Ecloud Secure;
Gigatech;
I-Support Group;
iKalls;
My Kloud Box;
NRG Support; and
Silver Safe Box.

Coconspirator Harold Sobel was previously convicted for his role in the scheme in Las Vegas federal court and sentenced to 42 months in prison. In a related civil case also filed in Los Angeles federal court, injunctive relief and settlements totaling nearly $5 million were obtained against various persons, including several who are charged in the criminal indictment. 

Please note that an indictment is only an accusation. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Find out more information on the Indictment.

Please continue to check this website for updates and scheduled court appearance dates. 

Access a copy of the Press Release at the following link:  https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/network-transnational-fraudsters-indicted-racketeering-scheme-steal-millions-american​​