Ukrainian Brought to NYC to Face Cybercrime Charge
Via The Sydney Morning Herald.
A Ukrainian man has been brought to New York to face charges of selling stolen credit-card numbers as part of an international cybercrime ring.
Egor Shevelev is being held without bond after pleading not guilty Friday to enterprise corruption and other charges. The 24-year-old from Kiev was arrested while vacationing in Greece in 2008. He was extradited to New York last week.
Manhattan prosecutors say he amassed 75,000 stolen credit-card numbers. They say his customers used the information to steal money and identities.
His lawyer's name wasn't immediately available Friday evening.
Prosecutors say Shevelev was linked to an identity theft and fraud group centered on New York-based Western Express Inc.
Company President Vadim Vassilenko has pleaded not guilty.
Link.
5 More Indicted in Probe of International Carding Ring
Kim Zetter writes on Threat Level:
Five eastern European men were indicted in New York on Monday as part of an international ring allegedly responsible for at least $4 million in credit card theft.
The ring, which authorities dubbed the Western Express Cybercrime Group, operated between 2001 and 2007 and trafficked in at least 95,000 known stolen credit card numbers, including some belonging to victims in New York, where the case is being prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
The five named in an indictment unsealed this week include Vasilyev Viatcheslav, 33, and Vladimir Kramarenko, 31, of Czechoslovakia, who were arrested in Prague in July 2008 and only extradited to the U.S. last week; Egor Shevelev, 23, a Ukrainian arrested last year during a vacation in Greece and awaiting extradition; Oleg Kovelin, 28, from Moldova (spelled “Covelin” in some documents); and Dzimitry Burak, 26, a Belorussian who was last living in Ukraine. The latter two have not yet been apprehended. A sixth defendant has not been named yet.
The five men named this week allegedly worked in concert with 17 other defendants who were previously charged with a 173-count indictment in November 2007, along with a New York-based company called Western Express International Inc., which authorities allege was used to coordinate and facilitate the illegal activities and launder the ring’s ill-gotten gains. Of those 17 defendants, 14 have been arrested. Five pleaded guilty.
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Image source: Threat Level / U.S. Secret Service
