TRENTON, New Jersey – A Florida man has admitted to laundering funds related to a $9 million business account takeover scheme with ties to Eastern Europe, US attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Igor Buzyukov, 51, of Weston, Florida, pleaded guilty December 20 before US District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Between February 2018 and July 2018, several clients of Company-1, a financial technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, fell victim to an account takeover scheme resulting in total losses exceeding $9 million.
The scheme generally involved an unidentified individual or individuals calling Company-1 and impersonating a representative of one of the victim companies. The impostor(s) would then request that an unauthorized bank account be added to the victims’ Company-1 accounts and be designated to receive payments from e-commerce customers.
The unauthorized bank accounts added to the victims’ Company-1 accounts were each controlled by Buzyukov under the name of a corporation registered to him in the State of Florida. After monies were deposited to the unauthorized accounts, Buzyukov would transfer the funds to other accounts controlled by him. Buzyukov then wired the majority of the funds to several bank accounts held by various individuals in Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Buzyukov also admitted to creating fake invoices in the amounts of the wire transfers in order to make the transactions appear legitimate.
The conspiracy to commit money laundering charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of not more than $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved, whichever is greater. Sentencing is scheduled for March 26, 2020.
US attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the United States Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Mark McKevitt in Newark with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by assistant US. attorney Anthony Torntore of the US attorney’s CybercrimesuUnit in Newark.
Defense counsel: Thomas Ambrosio, Esq., Lyndhurst, NJ
