2 Latvians plead guilty in cyber crime case
Two Latvian members of the international money-laundering operation for cybercriminals called QQAAZZ have pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh, the U.S. attorney said Friday.
Arturs Zaherevics, who was extradited to Pittsburgh from London, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to launder money.
Aleksejs Trofimovics, extradited here from Latvia, had pleaded guilty on July 13.
The two are among 20 Eastern Europeans under indictment in Pittsburgh on charges related to QQAAZZ, a European-based organization that provided cryptocurrency transactions for computer hackers on a global scale.
Trofimovics admitted to opening 13 corporate bank accounts in the name of a shell company he registered in Portugal for the purpose of accepting money stolen by cybercriminals. Several of the Portuguese accounts received, or were intended to receive, money stolen from U.S. victims.
Zaharevics similarly established a shell company under a fake name and set up foreign bank accounts in the company’s name to receive stolen funds.
Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman said in a statement announcing the pleas that transnational organizations such as QQAAZZ “play a critical role in helping cybercriminals profit from their schemes.”
He said the pleas demonstrate the commitment to pursue criminals around the world and ensure that they face justice in U.S. courts.
Mike Nordwall, special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh FBI, said the pleas are “proof no one can hide behind a computer or an international border.”
According to the pleas and information from prior indictments, QQAAZZ acted in concert with hackers to launder money taken from victims in the U.S. and abroad. As part of the investigation, law officers conducted searches of more than 40 houses in Latvia, Bulgaria, the U.K., Spain and Italy. Criminal cases have been brought in the U.S., Portugal, Spain and the U.K.
The largest number of arrests were carried out in Latvia by the national police there, and an associated bitcoin operation was seized in Bulgaria, prosecutors said.
A Russian national charged in Pittsburgh had previously pleaded guilty in 2020.
Maksim Boiko, known online as “gangass,” had been charged after Trofimovics and Zaherevics, along with three other Latvians, had been indicted here in September 2019. Fourteen more alleged conspirators were indicted in Pittsburgh in October.
The Pittsburgh FBI said Boiko was directly involved with QQAAZZ from his base in St. Petersburg, Russia, and had a close personal relationship with one of the leaders.
The FBI said QQAAZZ laundered or tried to launder tens of millions of dollars since 2016. The network opened and maintained hundreds of corporate and personal bank accounts at financial institutions around the world to receive money from cybercriminals.
The money was then transferred to QQAAZZ-controlled accounts or converted to cryptocurrency. QQAAZZ members took a fee of 40 to 50%.
The FBI said cyber thieves with access to a victim’s bank account would typically contact QQAAZZ, which had about a dozen members operating in Georgia, Bulgaria, Latvia and other countries, to locate a recipient bank account.
Prosecutors said previously that the U.S. victims included a technology company in Connecticut; an orthodox synagogue in New York City; a medical device manufacturer in York, Pa.; an individual in New Jersey; an architecture firm in Miami; an individual in the state of Georgia; an automotive parts manufacturer in Michigan; a homebuilder in Illinois; and individuals in Texas, California, New Jersey and Georgia.