Information for Victims in Large Cases
US vs Constant et al
Randy Constant, Tom Brennan, James Brennan, and Mike Potter each pled guilty to one count of wire fraud. John Burton has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charges resulted from the sale of grain fraudulently marketed as organic. The sales were primarily done through a business co-owned by Randy Constant named Jericho Solutions, which was located in Ossian, Iowa. The sales at issue occurred between 2010 and 2017.
U.S. v. Robert Wayne Dahl, Jr.
According to the indictment, DAHL owned “Your Magazine Service, Inc.” a fraudulent telemarketing company that operated a call center in Chaska, Minnesota. DAHL devised a scheme to trick mostly elderly customers into signing up for costly magazine subscriptions using false representations and fraudulent sales tactics. From 2009 through 2016, DAHL fraudulently obtained more than $10 million from 13,000 victims across the United States.
U.S. v. Andrei Catalin Stoica, et al.
The indictments allege that these defendants participated in a criminal conspiracy primarily located in Alexandria, Romania that engaged in a large-scale scheme of online auction fraud. Specifically, Romania-based members of the conspiracy and their associates posted false advertisements to popular online auction and sales websites—such as Craigslist and eBay—for high-cost goods (typically vehicles) that did not actually exist. According to the indictment, these members would convince American victims to send money for the advertised goods by crafting persuasive narratives. The members of the conspiracy are alleged to have created fictitious online accounts to post these advertisements and communicate with victims, often using the stolen identities of Americans to do so. They are alleged to have delivered invoices to the victims bearing trademarks of reputable companies in order to make the transaction appear legitimate. Once victims were convinced to send payment, the indictment alleges that the conspiracy engaged in a complicated money laundering scheme.
U.S. v. Adrian Mitan
On July 5, 2018, a federal grand jury charged one individual in United States v. Adrian Mitan, with money laundering offenses arising from a credit card phishing and brute-force attack scheme, likewise designed to steal money from Americans. The indictment explains that phishing is an attempt to acquire personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity through electronic communications, and brute force is a cryptological trial-and-error methodology used to obtain information such as personal identification numbers for credit cards. Mitan allegedly phished for credit/debit card information of U.S. customers, hacked into the electronic systems of American businesses, and then conducted a brute force attack on their point-of-sale systems for the purpose of stealing the remaining credit/debit card information. According to the indictment, Mitan then directed American money launderers to create “dummy” credit/debit cards with the stolen information, which were used to extract money from the customers’ accounts. These fraudulent proceeds were then returned to Mitan in the form of bitcoin.
U.S. v. Netbrands Media Corp.
Netbrands was charged with engaging in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing and maintaining prices of customized promotional products, including wristbands, lanyards, buttons and temporary tattoos, sold in the United States and elsewhere, from at least as early as May 2014 and continuing until at least June 2016.
U.S. v. Mueen Akhter
Mueen Akhter was charged with engaging in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing and maintaining prices of customized promotional products, including wristbands, lanyards, buttons and temporary tattoos, sold in the United States and elsewhere, from at least as early as May 2014 and continuing until at least June 2016.
U.S. v. Mashnoon Ahmed
Mashnoon Ahmed was charged with engaging in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing and maintaining prices of customized promotional products, including wristbands, lanyards, buttons and temporary tattoos, sold in the United States and elsewhere, from at least as early as May 2014 and continuing until at least June 2016.
United States vs. Peter Levashov
Peter Levashov has been charged with one count of causing intentional damage to a protected computer, one count of conspiracy, one count of accessing protected computers in furtherance of fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of threatening to damage a protected computer, two counts of fraud in connection with email and one count of aggravated identity theft. On September 12, 2018, Levashov entered into a guilty plea, thus admitting in open court to his criminal conduct and avoiding the need for a trial. Since the late 1990s until his arrest in April 2017, Levashov controlled and operated multiple botnets, including the Storm, Waledac and Kelihos botnets, to harvest personal information and means of identification from infected computers. To further the scheme, Levashov disseminated spam and distributed other malware, such as banking Trojans and ransomware, and advertised the Kelihos botnet spam and malware services to others for purchase in order to enrich himself. Over the course of his criminal career, Levashov participated in and moderated various online criminal forums on which stolen identities and credit cards, malware and other criminal tools of cybercrime were traded and sold. Sentencing is currently scheduled for September 6, 2019. Levashov is detained pending sentencing.
US v. Frederick Voight
Frederick Voight has been charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in relationship to a fraudulent investment scheme in which he victimized several hundred individuals. The Indictment alleges that Frederick Voight committed fraud by utilizing the United States Postal Service and wire transfers in the district of Nebraska and elsewhere across the United States to advance his scheme. It is alleged that through companies he controlled, Frederick Voight devised a scheme to defraud investors who placed money with him to invest in business entities. Frederick Voight obtained money from said investors by means of material false and fraudulent promises/pretenses that he would place the funds as represented. These statements, representations and promises deprived investors of materially valuable information investors needed in deciding how to use their assets and monies.
U.S. v. Akil Kurji
Akil Kurji was charged with engaging in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing and maintaining prices of customized promotional products, including wristbands, lanyards, buttons and temporary tattoos, sold in the United States and elsewhere, from at least as early as May 2014 and continuing until at least June 2016.
U.S. v. Gennex Media, LLC
Gennex was charged with engaging in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing and maintaining prices of customized promotional products, including wristbands, lanyards, buttons and temporary tattoos, sold in the United States and elsewhere, from at least as early as May 2014 and continuing until at least June 2016.
U.S. v. Roberto Dip and Jason Handal
Roberto Dip and Jason Handal were charged with engaging in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing prices for freight forwarding services provided in the United States and elsewhere from as early as September 2010 and continuing until at least March 2015.