Coordinated Multi-National Arrests in Phony Car Sales Scheme
Victimizing Banks and Individuals Across the United States
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant
Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (“FBI”), Troy Miller, Director, Field Operations, New York, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”), and James P. O’Neill, the Commissioner
of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced a multinational
operation involving 10 arrests in the United States and three other countries,
and the unsealing of Indictments and filing of a related Complaint charging
MARTINS APSKALNS, PAVELS BERNCS, JANIS BERNS, RAITIS GRIGORJEVS, SERGEJS
LOGINS, DIANA MAKSIMOVIC, AGRIS PETROVS, IGORS PIRINS, VALTERS VOLKSONS, and
VLADISLAV ZAPOLSKIJ with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud and
conspiracy to commit money laundering. PAVELS BERNCS was arrested in Helsinki,
Finland, and VLADISLAV ZAPOLSKIJ was arrested in Vilnius, Lithuania, and both
are pending extradition to the United States; MARTINS APSKALNS and IGORS PIRINS
were arrested in Kuldiga, Latvia, extradited to the United States, and
arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman on December 21, 2018;
DIANA MAKSIMOVIC was arrested in Vilnius, Lithuania, and SERGEJS LOGINS was
arrested in Riga, Latvia, and both were extradited to the United States and
arraigned before U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman on February 4, 2019; and
JANIS BERNS, RAITIS GRIGORJEVS, AGRIS PETROVS, and VALTERS VOLKSONS were
arrested in Queens, New York, and presented before Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang
on December 3, 2018. APSKALNS, BERNCS,
LOGINS, MAKSIMOVIC, PIRINS, and ZAPOLSKIJ are charged by Indictment, and BERNS,
GRIGORJEVS, PETROVS, and VOLKSONS are charged by Complaint. The case has been assigned to United States
District Judge Jesse M. Furman.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As alleged, the defendants used an elaborate
network of fictitious classic car dealers and collectors to take their victims
for a ride financially. Thinking they
were remitting money to purchase rare automobiles, victims were instead sending
large sums to bogus auto transport companies that were really just vehicles
from which the defendants allegedly vacuumed up the proceeds of their
fraudulent scheme. Thanks to our law
enforcement partners here in New York and in Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland,
the defendants’ once-lucrative joyride is over.”
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “Victims of this fraud not only believed they
were getting what they paid for, they were often stuck paying for the classic
automobiles they never received. The FBI
New York Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force would never have been able to
bring these criminals to justice without the help of our task force partners,
but also the work and partnership with our international partners in Latvia,
Lithuania and Finland. We cannot stress
enough how important it is for these suspects to understand the FBI has the
ability to bring them back to the United States to face justice and punishment
for their crimes.”
CBP New York Director of Field Operations Troy Miller
said: “CBP, working in partnership with
U.S. Attorney’s office, FBI, and the New York Police Department, demonstrated
vigilance and exceptional skill in targeting and detecting this scheme,
directly leading to the apprehension and prosecution of the alleged
conspirators.”
NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill said: “In this increasingly connected world, it has
never been more important for the NYPD and our law enforcement partners, in
America and abroad, to work in concert toward our shared public-safety goals.
It is due to that close cooperation that – after more than two years and across
multiple continents – this investigation into international wire fraud and
money laundering has successfully resulted in arrests. I commend and thank the
attorneys from the Southern District for bringing this case forward, and all
the FBI, CBP, and NYPD investigators for their dedication. Together, we will
continue to be relentless in fighting crime that impacts the people we serve
wherever, and however, it occurs.”
According to the
allegations in the Indictments and the Complaint:[1]
From at least January 2016 through December 2018, the
defendants participated in a fraudulent scheme that most commonly operated as
follows: first, co-conspirators impersonated automotive dealers and collectors
and claimed to be selling classic cars on various well-known internet auction
and trading websites. Victims responding
to the ads were in fact corresponding with a fraud scheme participant. After the victims and co-conspirators came to
terms on a sale price, including down payment and shipping costs, victims were
next directed to purported automotive transportation companies and were told
that these companies would accept payment and transport the cars. These companies were in fact shell
corporations established by the conspiracy to help perpetrate the fraud, whose
corporate bank accounts were established and controlled by the defendants and
co-conspirators, awaiting wired funds from the fraud’s victims. After victims had wired payment, the
defendants and co-conspirators went to the banks to drain the victim’s funds,
often starting the same day payment had been transmitted, withdrawing from
different bank branches in numerous withdrawals on the same day, and
withdrawing in denominations that were varied and often kept to an amount that
they believed would prevent the financial institutions from recording and
reporting the fraud. The defendants and
other co-conspirators then sent the fraud proceeds outside the United States to
Eastern European countries, from where the defendants and many of their
co-conspirators originated. Some of the
defendants maintained managerial roles, recruiting co-conspirators to
participate and providing directions and victim information to scheme
participants once the co-conspirators were inside the United States. Victims never received the goods they
believed they had purchased, and many were unable to recover their money or
were left paying loans for cars that were never truly for sale.
Each of the defendants is charged with one count of
conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, which carries a maximum
sentence of 30 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit money
laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case
are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes
only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge. The charges contained in the Indictments and
the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent
unless and until proven guilty.
*
* *
The investigation was conducted in close cooperation with
the International Cooperation Department and the Criminal Investigation
Department of the Central Criminal Police Department, State Police of Latvia;
Prosecutor’s General Office of Latvia, International Cooperation Division;
Police Department of Lithuania, Vilnius County Police Headquarters, Crimes
Against Property Board; Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, International
Liaison Board; Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania;
Vilnius Regional Prosecution Office; and the National Bureau of Investigation
of Finland. The Department of Justice
Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant
assistance.
If you believe you were a victim of this crime, including a
victim entitled to restitution, and you wish to provide information to law
enforcement and/or receive notice of future developments in the case or
additional information, please contact the Victim/Witness Unit at the United
States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, at (866)
874-8900. For additional information, go
to: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/victimwitness.html.
The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s General
Crimes Unit. Assistant United States
Attorneys Jeffrey Coffman, Matthew Hellman, Emily Johnson, Daniel Nessim, and
Thane Rehn are in charge of the prosecution.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of
the texts of the Indictments and the Complaint, and the descriptions of the
Indictments and the Complaint set forth herein, constitute only allegations,
and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
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