Financial Fraud: Fifth Defendant Charged For Cyberattacks, Aggravated Identity Theft and Debit-Credit Card Fraud

<p>LOS ANGELES – The fifth and final defendant charged with using credit and debit cards obtained from a series of cyberattacks on U&period;S&period; companies that resulted in an estimated &dollar;5 million in losses – and caused one victim company to go out of business – has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Irina Fedoseeva&comma; 33&comma; a Russian national who resides in the Koreatown District of Los Angeles&comma; pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon to conspiracy to use unauthorized credit and debit cards and admitted causing more than &dollar;225&comma;000 in losses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a plea agreement filed in United States District Court&comma; Fedoseeva admitted to helping make fraudulent purchases with debit cards obtained as a result of cyberattacks on two healthcare administrators in December 2015 and February 2016&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After helping a co-defendant make unauthorized purchases from retail stores that included Apple and Best Buy&comma; Fedoseeva resold the merchandise on the internet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Four other defendants previously pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges for their roles in the computer attacks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Timur Safin&comma; 29&comma; of Burbank&semi; Dmitry Fedoseev&comma; 34&comma; of Koreatown&semi; and Kristina Gerasimova&comma; 22&comma; of the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles&comma; all of whom are Russian nationals&comma; each pleaded guilty on March 20 to aggravated identity theft and debit&sol;credit card fraud&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The fifth defendant charged as a result of this investigation – Siarhei Patapau&comma; 26&comma; of the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles&comma; a native of Belarus – pleaded guilty on March 6 to similar felony charges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All five defendants pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Stephen V&period; Wilson&comma; who is scheduled to sentence the defendants during hearings scheduled in June and September&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to court documents filed in two separate cases&comma; the five defendants conspired with computer hackers&comma; some of whom are believed to be in Russia&period; The hackers staged attacks that included&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>a July 2014 intrusion into an airline’s computer system in which the hackers funded pre-paid credit cards in the amount of &dollar;900&comma;000&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>a December 2015 hack into the system of a healthcare administrator that allowed the cybercriminals to reactivate a dormant dependent care account and order the production of numerous debit cards that were used to make approximately &dollar;550&comma;000 in fraudulent purchases&semi; and<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>a February 2016 attack on another healthcare administrator that allowed the intruders to order the production of debit cards linked to reactivated accounts that were used to make approximately &dollar;3&period;5 million in fraudulent purchases&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>The computer hackers directed the pilfered debit and credit cards to be sent to the five defendants charged in Los Angeles and other co-conspirators&period; Members of the conspiracy then used the unauthorized cards to make cash withdrawals&comma; purchase money orders and make purchases at retail outlets such as Apple&comma; Best Buy&comma; Home Depot and Target&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For example&comma; Safin admitted in court that he used a number of the pre-paid credit cards to withdraw approximately &dollar;5&comma;074 at ATMs throughout Los Angeles County and to purchase money orders totaling &dollar;19&comma;420&period; He used debit cards obtained from the healthcare administrators to make at least &dollar;225&comma;000 in fraudulent purchases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When they were arrested last year&comma; Fedoseev was in the possession of more than 519 unauthorized credit&comma; debit and gift cards&comma; and Patapau was found with approximately 525 credit and debit cards in other people’s names&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As a result of their guilty pleas&comma; Patapau&comma; Safin and Fedoseev each face a statutory maximum sentence of 12 years in federal prison when they are sentenced by Judge Wilson&period; Gerasimova faces a statutory maximum sentence of seven years&comma; and Fedoseeva faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investigation that led to the two cases filed in Los Angeles was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The two criminal cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Bryant Yang and Eric Tung of the General Crimes Section&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-cdca&sol;pr&sol;5-eastern-european-immigrants-plead-guilty-credit-card-fraud-and-identity-theft-charges">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Financial Fraud