NEWARK, N.J. – A Florida man was sentenced to 45 months in jail for laundering funds obtained from a $50 million internet-enabled fraud scheme, U.S. Lawyer Philip R. Sellinger introduced in the present day.
Denis Sotnikov, 39, of Hallandale Seaside, Florida, beforehand pleaded responsible by videoconference earlier than U.S. District Choose John Michael Vazquez to an info charging him with one rely of conspiracy to commit cash laundering. Choose Vazquez imposed the sentence on Nov. 3, 2022, in Newark federal courtroom.
Based on the paperwork filed on this case and statements made in courtroom:
From 2012 to October 2020, Allen Giltman, 56, of Irvine, California, and others engaged in an internet-based monetary fraud scheme, which typically concerned the creation of fraudulent web sites to solicit funds from buyers. At instances, the fraudulent web sites had been designed to intently resemble web sites being operated by precise, well-known, and publicly respected monetary establishments; at different instances, the fraudulent web sites had been designed to resemble seemingly respectable monetary establishments that didn’t exist.
Victims of the fraud scheme sometimes found the fraudulent web sites by way of web searches. The fraudulent web sites marketed numerous sorts of funding alternatives, most prominently the acquisition of certificates of deposit, or CDs. The fraudulent web sites marketed increased than common charges of return on the CDs to lure potential victims.
Sotnikov acquired funds from at the very least 18 victims of the fraud scheme, totaling roughly $6 million, in accounts at numerous home banks that had been managed by him or by a detailed relative. Of this quantity, roughly $3.7 million was both frozen by the banks or returned to victims, and $707,380 was wired by Sotnikov abroad. The remaining stolen funds – roughly $1.5 million – had been transferred to quite a few different accounts managed by Sotnikov, the place they had been used to fund private expenditures.
So far, legislation enforcement has recognized at the very least 150 fraudulent web sites created as a part of the scheme. At the very least 70 victims of the fraud scheme nationwide, together with in New Jersey, collectively transmitted funds that they believed to be investments within the combination quantity of at the very least roughly $50 million.
Giltman pleaded responsible for his position within the fraud scheme Jan. 5, 2022, and is awaiting sentencing.
Along with the jail time period, Choose Vazquez sentenced Sotnikov to 3 years of supervised launch.
The U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC) beforehand filed a civil criticism towards Sotnikov and several other corporations related to him based mostly on the identical conduct.
U.S. Lawyer Sellinger credited particular brokers of the FBI, together with the FBI’s Cyber/Monetary Crimes Activity Drive, underneath the route of Particular Agent in Cost James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation resulting in the sentencing. He additionally thanked the SEC for the help offered by its Enforcement Division.
The federal government is represented by Assistant U.S. Lawyer Anthony P. Torntore of the U.S. Lawyer’s Cybercrime Unit in Newark.