14 DAY TRIAL // Two suspects wanted by the FBI for their involvement in a ZeuS-related international cyberfraud operation, were arrested Wednesday by authorities in Wisconsin.
Dorin Codreanu and Lilian Adam, both 21, were indicted along 37 other individuals in New York at the end of September on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to posses false identification documents.
The suspects, who are nationals of Moldova, appeared yesterday before a judge in U.S. District Court in Madison and agreed to be transferred to New York to face the pending charges.
Codreanu and Adam are accused of acting as money mules for cybercriminal gangs in Eastern Europe, which stole millions of dollars from U.S. businesses and organizations with the notorious ZeuS banking trojan.
The two men opened bank accounts using false identities in order to receive stolen funds, which were then wired abroad. The mules kept a ten percent commission of the illegal proceeds.
Codreanu is also accused of recruiting and coordinating other money mules. The counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, while the conspiracy to posses false identification documents adds an additional 15 years and a fine of $250,000.
The men were placed on the FBI wanted list together with seventeen other suspects, who were missing when the indictment was announced. Some of them have since been captured or surrendered willingly.
The arrest of Codreanu and Adam brings the remaining number of fugitives in this case down to eleven. Nikolai Garafulin, a Russian national, was apprehended on October 6 in Brighton, while another Russian citizen, Dmitry Saprunov, was arrested on October 1.
Yulia Klepikova and Stanislav Rastorguev, both of Russia, surrendered themselves to the authorities on October 3 and October 4, respectively.
