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By John Ogunsemore
A Nigerian-Canadian, Tunde Benak, has been arrested alongside four others in the United States, after fleeing Germany, where they had allegedly orchestrated a massive fraud scheme.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California, and Director Gadyaces S. Serralta of the US Marshals Service made the announcement in a Wednesday statement.
The other suspects were identified as Medhat Mourid, Andrew Garroni, Guy Mizrachi, and Ardeshir Akhavan.
According to the statement, all five suspects were resident in California at the time of their arrest by the US Marshals Service.
The statement reads, “The United States arrested five international fugitives at the request of the Federal Republic of Germany, which has charged the individuals for their roles in a network involving German payment service processors that defrauded thousands of victims of more than €300 million and created a shadow financial system in Germany.
“Pursuant to its treaty obligations, the United States located and arrested the fugitives in the Central District of California for ultimate extradition to Germany.
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“Four US citizens residing in California — Medhat Mourid, of Woodland Hills, Andrew Garroni, of Los Angeles, Guy Mizrachi, of Agoura Hills, Ardeshir Akhavan, of Irvine — and Canadian National Tunde Benak, of Irvine, were arrested by the US Marshals Service and made their initial appearances in federal court today.”
The US officials said Germany alleged that the fugitives defrauded victims in violation of German law by creating millions of recurring, fraudulent debit or credit card charges from fictitious merchants.
The defendants were said to have orchestrated a scheme in which they deliberately kept monthly charges on credit cards to below €50, to avoid suspicion among victims about the nature of the charges.
These charges were linked to fictitious companies using fictitious websites that were only accessible via direct links or URL’s.
“The operators of the network then colluded with German payment service processors – including their executives and compliance officers – to process these payments.
|Former employees and executives of German payment processors are among those arrested yesterday.
“German authorities allege that this complex scheme resulted in the creation of a shadow financial system in Germany,” the statement further reads.
