Cyber Crime: Filip Lucian Simion Sentenced For Conspiracy To Import Controlled Substances And Launder Money

<h2>Leader Of Darknet ItalianMafiaBrussels Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced To 11 Years’ Imprisonment<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>DENVER – U&period;S&period; Attorney Bob Troyer announced that on September 26&comma; 2018&comma; U&period;S&period; District Court Judge R&period; Brooke Jackson sentenced Filip Lucian Simion&comma; age 25&comma; to 132 months &lpar;11 years&rpar; imprisonment for conspiracy to import controlled substances and launder money&period; Judge Jackson also ordered a personal money judgment against Simion in the amount of &dollar;850&comma;000&period;00&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On May 3&comma; 2016&comma; in a joint U&period;S&period;&sol;European enforcement action&comma; law enforcement dismantled the ItalianMafiaBrussels Drug Trafficking Organization&comma; arresting ten defendants during early morning raids in Bruges&comma; Belgium and surrounding areas&period; Filip Lucian Simion and Leonardo Cristea were arrested simultaneously in Bucharest&comma; Romania&comma; and extradited to the District of Colorado in July and October of 2016&comma; respectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The nine-count indictment underlying the extraditions charged Filip Lucian Simion&comma; Leonardo Cristea&comma; and others with conspiracies to distribute and import into the United States controlled substances&comma; in violation of Title 21&comma; United States Code&comma; Sections 846 and 963&period; The defendants were also charged with substantive counts of importation of controlled substances and aiding and abetting&comma; in violation of Title 21&comma; United States Code&comma; Section 952&lpar;a&rpar;&comma; and Title 18&comma; United States Code&comma; Section 2&period; In addition&comma; Filip Lucian Simion was charged in several counts of distribution of controlled substances by means of the Internet&comma; in violation of Title 21&comma; United States Code&comma; Section 841&lpar;h&rpar;&lpar;1&rpar;&lpar;A&rpar; and conspiracy to launder money&comma; in violation of Title 18&comma; United States Code&comma; Section 1956&lpar;h&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The leader of the organization&comma; Filip Lucian Simion&comma; plead guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to import into the United States controlled substances&comma; and one count of conspiracy to launder money&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The evidence from the investigation revealed that from January 2013&comma; through May 3&comma; 2016&comma; members of the conspiracy imported kilogram quantities of MDMA &lpar;3&comma;4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine&comma; a Schedule I controlled substance commonly known as Ecstasy&rpar; into the United States via the mail from various countries in Europe&period; The transnational organization operated online as the Darknet vendor &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ItalianMafiaBrussels” or &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;IMB” and used encrypted email and TOR-based online black markets&comma; such as the now defunct Silk Road and Silk Road 2&period;0&comma; to sell the MDMA&comma; primarily to United States and Canadian customers&period; The organization accepted payment for the drugs in the cryptocurrency bitcoin&period; In 2014 and 2015&comma; several defendants were charged and convicted in the District of Colorado for distribution of MDMA sourced by the organization&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Let there be no mistake&period; As the internet has grown&comma; so has the long arm of the law&comma;” said U&period;S&period; Attorney Bob Troyer&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If you’re harming people in Colorado&comma; no distance is a safe distance&period; We will find you&comma; we will bring you here&comma; and we will send you to federal prison&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Darknet is a rapidly evolving network that enhances the ability of transnational criminal organizations to move illicit goods worldwide&period; The anonymity it provides&comma; coupled with the use of cryptocurrencies to launder proceeds made this a complicated investigation&period; Our special agents were able to call on their expertise&comma; as well as HSI’s broad investigative mandate&comma; to contribute to shutting down the ItalianMafiaBrussels Drug Trafficking Organization&period; Colorado is safer now that this group will no longer be able to bring illegal narcotics to its cities&comma;” said HSI Denver SAC Steve Cagen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This case highlights the broad reach of the law enforcement community when we bring together state&comma; federal and international partners to dismantle worldwide criminal organizations&period; The U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service would like to commend all those who came together to bring down one of the world’s largest distributors of illicit drugs&comma;” said Kevin Rho&comma; Inspector in Charge of the Denver Division of the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This case sends a clear message that criminals who use the U&period;S&period; mail to send illegal narcotics to American citizens are not safe hiding behind cryptocurrency transactions and foreign borders&period; Postal Inspectors are steadfast in their commitment to protecting the American public&comma; and USPS employees&comma; from the hazards of drugs in the mail&comma;” said Rho&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This sentence sends a strong message to dark Web merchants of illegal goods that law enforcement is coming for them&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Steven Osborne&comma; Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case was investigated by the Denver Illicit Digital Economy Working Group&comma; comprised of the U&period;S&period; Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s &lpar;ICE&rpar; Homeland Security Investigations &lpar;HSI&rpar;&comma; the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service&comma; and the Internal Revenue Service&comma; in partnership with the Romanian Central Anti-Narcotics Unit in Bucharest&comma; Romania&comma; and the Belgian Federal Judicial Police&comma; East Flanders Drug Unit in Dendermonde&comma; Belgium&period; Other United States and international agencies assisting the working group in this investigation included&colon; the Boulder County Drug Task Force&comma; the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office&comma; the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office&comma; U&period;S&period; Customs and Border Protection offices nationwide&comma; the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs&comma; Europol&comma; and Eurojust&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The case was prosecuted by Michele R&period; Korver&comma; Digital Currency Counsel at the DOJ Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Unit&comma; on detail from the U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office in the District of Colorado&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-co&sol;pr&sol;leader-darknet-italianmafiabrussels-drug-trafficking-organization-sentenced-11-years">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;