Last of Five Defendants Sentenced in Two Separate Romanian ATM Skimming Conspiracies with Combined Losses of Over $1 Million

BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK – Ionel Tomescu Baldovin, age 28, a Romanian national, was sentenced Thursday, May 22, 2025, to 33 months in prison for his role in a bank fraud conspiracy impacting two Northern District of New York financial institutions and least five additional financial institutions across the United States. United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement. 

As part of his previously entered guilty plea, Baldovin admitted that he conspired with others to place skimming devices and cameras at ATMs at financial institutions, including two financial institutions in the Northern District of New York.  Once installed, the devices and cameras captured ATM customers’ account information and personal identification numbers (“PINs”).  Members of the conspiracy subsequently created fraudulent debit cards from the captured information, which they used to withdraw currency from customers’ accounts.  Baldovin admitted involvement in the conspiracy from October 2017 to April 2018, with losses of over $450,0000 to financial institutions, including losses of over $20,000 from a Northern District of New York financial institution.  Baldovin was the only defendant charged in this conspiracy. 

United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby also ordered Baldovin to pay $454,447 in restitution, and to serve a 3-year term of supervised release following his incarceration.

In 2019, four Romanian nationals conspired to commit a similar bank fraud skimming scheme. In that conspiracy, skimming devices were placed on ATMs at a financial institution in the Northern District of New York, and fraudulent debit cards were created from the information captured, allowing the defendants access to information from over 500 compromised accounts. 

Each Romanian national pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and multiple counts of aggravated identity theft.  They were each sentenced as follows:

• Laurentiu Florian Iancu was sentenced December 11, 2024, to 48 months incarceration, three (3) years’ supervised release, and an order of restitution of $169,075.
• Florin Nicolae Mares was sentenced January 18, 2023, to 51 months incarceration, two (2) years’ supervised release, and an order of restitution of $169,075.
• Liviu Samuel Anca was sentenced September 20, 2024, to 40 months incarceration, three (3) years’ supervised release, and an order of restitution of $169,075.
• Teodor Claudiu Stan was sentenced December 19, 2023, to 81 months incarceration, four (4) years’ supervised release, and an order of restitution of over $675,000. During his plea, Stan admitted his involvement in the 2019 Northern District of New York conspiracy with Baldovin, as well as a broader conspiracy through 2022 where he and his co-conspirators made, modified, placed or assisted in placing skimming devices at eight (8) additional financial institutions across the United States.   

U.S. Attorney Sarcone stated, “We commend our federal and local partners for their diligent work in developing these important investigations into strong cases that held multiple defendants accountable for their conduct in the Northern District of New York and beyond.” 

FBI Special Agent in Charge Tremaroli stated, “This sentence is the direct result of the commitment by our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to aggressively pursue and charge those who willingly defraud our citizens and financial institutions. The FBI will continue to investigate and bring to justice these callous criminals to ensure they pay the price, instead of their victims.”

These cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),  Homeland  Security Investigations (HSI), the New York State Police, the Endicott Police and various local police departments outside the Northern District of New York.  These cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kristen Grabowski.