Russian Cybercrime Suspect Extradited from Morocco in $48 Million Fraud Case

In an indictment made public on November 7, the U.S. Department of Justice reveals that Ruslan Albertovich Nurullin, 32, known as "ray.nolan" and "nolan"; Nikolaj Sofinskij alias "pagnini", "Nikola Sofinskiy" and "Mykola Petrovych Sofinskyi", 42, and Aleksandr Popan alias "popanus", "Alexander Popan", "Alexandr Popan", 40, all three Russian nationals, diverted $48 million through an organized cybercrime, "by stealing sensitive personal data, including payment card information, and using it to place retail orders for items such as smartphones, computers and luxury clothing" from 2013 to 2018. Ill-gotten funds that the co-defendants shared thanks to a virtual currency exchange based in Russia, which they would have used to launder the profits and invest in other projects, including buying prepaid postage stamps to facilitate the shipment of stolen goods to Russia.

Extradited from Morocco to the United States, the thirty-year-old appeared before a federal court in Brooklyn on September 15. The second co-defendant appeared Tuesday before Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. in the federal court in Brooklyn after being extradited from Romania. As for the third co-defendant, he was extradited from Germany to the United States and appeared before a federal court in Brooklyn on October 16. Their extradition follows Interpol red notices based on arrest warrants issued by the Eastern District of New York. "Nurullin, Popan and Sofinskij allegedly participated in multiple reshipping schemes, using online communications to carry out their frauds, resulting in $48 million in losses to their victims," said James Smith, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has indicted the men on 32 counts, including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Each faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each fraud, fraudulent conspiracy and money laundering count, as well as an additional mandatory two-year sentence for each aggravated identity theft count.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace thanked the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Interpol, and the authorities in Morocco, Germany and Romania for the assistance they provided in the arrest and extradition of Nurullin, Popan and Sofinskij.