U.S. Department
of Justice
Member of ATM Skimming Conspiracy Targeting Multiple New Jersey Bank Locations Pleads Guilty
NEWARK, N.J. – A New York man today admitted participating in a scheme that used secret card-reading devices and pinhole cameras on various New Jersey bank locations to steal at least $428,581, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Bogdan Rusu, 39, of Queens, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Rusu and others sought to defraud financial institutions and their customers by illegally obtaining customer account information, including account numbers and personal identification numbers. Rusu admitted installing equipment on ATMs at banks in New Jersey. Eleven other defendants charged in this scheme have pleaded guilty.
The conspiracy to commit bank fraud charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 1, 2019.
U.S. Attorney Carpentio credited special agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian Michael in Newark; special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office; Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Police Department; Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Department; and Medford, Massachusetts, Police Department, with assistance from the victim banks, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. The Middlesex County, Massachusetts, District Attorney’s Office; U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York and U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Massachusetts, Springfield Division assisted in the investigation and prosecution.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Graves of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark and Trial Attorney Marianne Shelvey of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Organized Crime and Gang Section.