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five Southern Californian The men have been arrested at the request of german government After being accused of being involved in a large-scale financial fraud scheme.
According to one, five people allegedly defrauded $345 million, about €300 million, between 2016 and 2021. official statement From the Justice Department.
To conceal their scheme, they devised a scheme that involved recurring debit and credit charges of less than €50 to harass the financial authorities. The allegations relate to a series of shell companies, most of which were based on united kingdom and Cyprus, according to the statement.
The complex network targeted 4.3 million people in 193 countries, allowing them to defraud thousands of victims of money.
Medhat Mourid, Andrew Garroni, Guy Mizrachi, Ardeshir Akhavan and Tunde Benac were detained for their alleged involvement in the elaborate fraud scheme following an investigation. EuropolBenck is a Canadian citizen who lives in Southern California.
according to nbc los angelesFollowing an initial federal court appearance on Wednesday, the Southern California men will soon be extradited to Germany to face justice.
The five men were a small group of people arrested by a German-led effort to dismantle the alleged fraud network. A total of eighteen people have been arrested, although 44 are suspected of being involved in the criminal scheme.
According to the DOJ statement, the criminal network “colluded.” German Payment service processors, including their officers and compliance officers, to take action on fraud allegations. They used “fictitious” websites, which were only accessible via direct links or URLs, to make their alleged scam appear legitimate.
German police also confirmed during a press conference that the alleged fraudsters also tried to extort an additional €750 million, but were unsuccessful due to the bank cards they were trying to use having expired.
“In the United States, the U.S. government’s central authority on criminal cases, the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs (OIA), worked closely with German authorities and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California to provide legal guidance and coordinate the successful arrest of U.S.-based defendants,” the DOJ said in a statement. “OIA participated in coordination meetings related to expulsions and worked directly with the German prosecutor to ensure that Germany met U.S. legal requirements to arrest these fugitives with a view to extradition.”