Florida Man Charged with Money Laundering in $8.5 Million Account Takeover Scheme

NEWARK, N.J. – A Florida man was arrested today on charges that he laundered funds related to an $8.5 million business account takeover scheme with ties to Eastern Europe, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Igor Buzyukov, 51, is charged by criminal complaint with one count of money laundering. He is scheduled to appear tomorrow in Miami federal court.

According to the complaint:

Between February 2018 and July 2018, Buzyukov and others were allegedly part of an account takeover scheme aimed at several clients of Company-1, a financial technology company headquartered in San Jose, California. The scheme resulted in total losses exceeding $8.5 million.

The scheme generally involved an unidentified individual or individuals calling Company-1 and impersonating a representative of one of the victim companies. The individual would then request that an unauthorized bank account be added to the victims’ Company-1 accounts and be designated to receive payments from e-commerce customers.

The unauthorized bank accounts added to the victims’ Company-1 accounts were each controlled by Buzyukov under the name of a corporation registered to him in Florida. After monies were deposited to the unauthorized accounts, Buzyukov would transfer the funds to other accounts controlled by him. Buzyukov then wired the majority of the funds to several bank accounts held by various individuals in Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

The money laundering charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000, or twice the value of the property involved, whichever is greater.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Mark McKevitt, with the investigation leading to today’s arrest. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Torntore of the U.S. Attorney’s Cybercrimes Unit in Newark.

The charge and allegations in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.