United States v. Alexandru Habasescu

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg along with Special Agent in Charge Brian Payne, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Tampa Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge David Walker, FBI-Tampa Division, announces the arrest and successful extradition from Spain of Alexandru Habasescu (30, Moldova). Habasescu is charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit access device fraud and substantive counts of access device fraud, for his role as an administrator of the xDedic Marketplace. If convicted on all counts, Habasescu faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. The Indictment also notifies the defendant that the United States is seeking an order of forfeiture of the proceeds and facilitating property of the fraud.

According to public documents, the xDedic Marketplace, established around October 2014, illegally sold login credentials (usernames and passwords) to compromised servers and social security numbers belonging to U.S. citizens. Habasescu, who resided in Chisnau, Moldova, acted as the lead developer and technical mastermind for the Marketplace.