Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced that a Wasilla man has been sentenced to prison on federal wire fraud charges which arose from a scheme that defrauded Alaska consumers. 

Dmitry Kudryn, 34, of Wasilla, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason to serve one year in federal prison, a $100,000 fine, and the maximum three years of supervised release following his release from custody. 

In July 2014, Kudryn participated in a scheme based on his importation of furniture manufactured in China and then falsely advertising the furniture for sale as having been manufactured in Italy.  Specifically, Kudryn purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of wholesale furniture from a manufacturer in China and then re-sold the furniture as “Italian leather furniture” to retail purchasers in Alaska at a significant markup using the Craigslist.com internet marketplace.  He fraudulently sold hundreds of these sofa sets to individuals in Alaska, including an undercover Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigator.

The investigation revealed that the Craigslist advertisements falsely represented that each unit was worth $4800 “shipped from the lower 48.”  Kudryn would then arrange for the retail sale of the furniture to individuals in Alaska for approximately $2400 per unit, when in reality he purchased them for less than half that amount.

In pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in relation to the sofa scheme, Kudryn also admitted his involvement in another long running scheme to obtain refurbished and or promotional Apple products, which were then repackaged in Alaska in counterfeit packing and sold as new to overseas purchasers using the Amazon and eBay marketplaces.  Kudryn forfeited $586,748.22 in illicit proceeds from that scheme. 

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Gleason noted that Kudryn had a history of fraudulent conduct in connection with his business activities in imposing sentence.  

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) conducted the investigation leading to successful prosecution of this case.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Alexander.