Member of ATM Skimming Conspiracy Targeting Multiple New Jersey Bank Locations Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

NEWARK, N.J. – A New York man was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for participating in a scheme that used secret card-reading devices and pinhole cameras on various New York and New Jersey bank locations to steal at least $390,141.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, District of New Jersey; Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Special Agent in Charge Brian Michael of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Newark made the announcement.

Bogdan Rusu, 39, of Queens, New York, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Judge Salas imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Rusu and others engaged in a widespread bank fraud conspiracy that targeted various banks in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.  Rusu and others captured payment card account information from customers as they accessed their accounts through automatic teller machines (ATMs) and then used that information to steal money from the customers’ bank accounts.  As part of the scheme, Rusu and others installed devises on ATMs in New Jersey and elsewhere to  illegally obtain customer account information, including account numbers and personal identification numbers.  Rusu and others would then transfer the illegally obtained information to counterfeit payment cards and use those counterfeit cards to steal money from the accounts.   Eleven other defendants charged in this scheme have pleaded guilty.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Salas sentenced Rusu to three years of supervised release and restitution of $390,141.

U.S. Attorney Carpentio and Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael in Newark; special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office; East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Police Department; Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Department; Medford, Massachusetts, Police Department; Ludlow, Massachusetts Police Department; and the Massachusetts State Police, with assistance from the victim banks, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. The Middlesex County, Massachusetts, District Attorney’s Office; U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York and U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Massachusetts, Springfield Division assisted in the investigation and prosecution. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Angelica Sinopole of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime and Gangs Unit in Newark and Trial Attorney Marianne Shelvey of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Organized Crime and Gang Section.