14 DAY TRIAL // Three individuals of the cybercrime ring dubbed “Western Express” have been sentenced to prison, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney of New York County, announced on Thursday.
The eight-year-long investigation has resulted in the conviction of 15 individuals accused of stealing over $5 million (€3.7 million) in an international cyber fraud scheme that involved almost 100,000 stolen credit card numbers.
The latest to be sentenced are 27-year-old Ukrainian national Egor Shevelev, aka “Eskalibur,” 40-year-old Douglas Latta, and 41-year-old Anna Ciano, aka “Angela Perez.” They’ve all pleaded guilty to all the charges brought against them.
Shevelev was sentenced to 14 to 40 years in prison, Latta got between 22 and 44 years in prison, while Ciano will spend between 20 and 47 years in jail.
Shevelev was the one who sold credit card information on cybercriminal forums. He’s said to have sold over 75,000 information records.
He was paid for his services in digital currencies such as Egold and Webmoney. He laundered his criminal proceeds through a company called Western Express International, operated by another defendant in the case, Vadim Vassilenko.
Shevelev was apprehended while vacationing in Greece. From there he was extradited to the US.
The other two co-defendants, Latta and Ciano, were a couple who lived and worked together in Brooklyn, New York. Between 2004 and 2007, they purchased over 800 credit card numbers from the Ukrainian and others.
The two used stolen information to create identifications and credit cards which they utilized to purchase various items. The goods were then sold via eBay.
The duo bought the personal information from the Web with Egold and Webmoney obtained from Vassilenko and his company, Western Express.
Vassilenko and his firm were the central point of the case since all defendants in this case used his services at some point.