Wall Street Journal
A Romanian national pleaded guilty Thursday in a Washington, D.C. federal court to leading an international money laundering network for a transnational crime network based in Eastern Europe.
Roman Teodor, a resident of Romania, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and he faces up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 29.
Teodor was indicted along with five co-defendants on Jan. 9, 2008.
According to court documents, the scheme operated from July 2005 to November 2006, and it involved the posting of fraudulent ads on eBay and other websites offering expensive vehicles and boats that the conspirators didn’t possess. Victims seeking to purchase the boats or vehicles wired money to an entity that appeared to be affiliated with eBay but wasn’t.
Instead, the money would be wired directly to bank accounts in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland controlled by the conspirators, netting them about $1.4 million, according to the Justice Department.
One of the co-defendants in the case, Georgi Vasilev Pletnyov, pleaded guilty in April, and is scheduled to be sentenced a week before Teodor. Three other co-defendants were already sentenced, and a fourth remains on the loose.
Michael Hearns an Anti Money Laundering specialist with over 24 years of AML experience can also be found at www.launderingmoney.com and on twitter at : http://twitter.com/#!/LaunderingMoney
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