The US attorney’s office announced that three defendants were extradited from Morocco, Germany, and Romania to face charges in the United States, in connection with a Russian cyber fraud case, for allegedly participating in schemes that defrauded victims of more than $48 million.
According to the same source, Nikolaj Sofinskij will be arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr., at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn on an indictment charging him and others with three counts each of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, as well as one count of aggravated identity theft, in connection with schemes to steal personally identifiable information (PII) on the black market and purchase merchandise in the United States.
Following his arrest in Romania, Sofinskij was brought to the United States by extradition. Defendants Ruslan Albertovich Nurullin, who was extradited to the US from Morocco on September 15, and Alexander Popan, who was extradited from Germany on October 16 are both facing similar charges.
“The defendants are charged with conspiring to defraud victims out of more than $48 million by stealing sensitive personal information, including social security numbers, and using it to buy and then resell electronics and luxury goods,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.
“This case shows that if criminals organize to target U.S. victims in their international crimes, our Office will unite with the international community to catch and bring them to justice,” reads the same release by the US attorney.
Peace expressed gratitude to the Office of International Affairs at the Department of Justice, the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, INTERPOL, the United States Marshals Service, and the Moroccan, German, and Romanian authorities for their help in securing the arrests and extraditions of Nurullin (age 32), Popan (age 40), and Sofinskij (age 42).