California Resident Sentenced to 72 Months in Prison for Laundering $2.5 Million in Illegal Proceeds from Sale of Stolen Credit Card Information

WASHINGTON – Cesar Carranza, 38, a resident of Long Beach, Calif., was sentenced today to 72 months in prison for his role in laundering $2.5 million dollars in proceeds derived from several stolen credit card information schemes, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch for the Eastern District of New York.

Carranza was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., by U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser. Carranza pleaded guilty on Dec. 3, 2009, to one count of conspiring to launder proceeds of unlawful activity.

According to court documents, Carranza, using the online nickname "uBuyWeRush," participated in the money laundering conspiracy from Long Beach, between April 2004 to November 2006, and received cash deposits from "carders"– criminals responsible for engaging in credit card fraud using stolen credit card information. Carranza used a variety of methods to launder proceeds of the illegal schemes, including acting as a money exchanger for an online payment system known as e-Gold. E-Gold Ltd., was previously convicted in July 2008 of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, and three of its directors were convicted of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jaikumar Ramaswamy of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Campos of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. This case was investigated by the Electronic Crimes Task Force of the U.S. Secret Service in New York.