A 32-year-old Romanian man has been given a three and a half year prison sentence for his part in a Europe-wide cybercrime and money-laundering organisation.
Andrei Ciocan, with a former address at 51 Glenoughty Close, Letterkenny, Co Donegal pleaded guilty at Roscommon Circuit Court on Tuesday to money laundering charges the value of which totalled just over €80,000.
He also pleaded guilty to using a false Romanian national identity card and a false Romanian driving licence to create bank accounts. The offences occurred between March 2017 and March 2019.
The court heard that Ciocan was a member of an international crime group which defrauded people across Europe.
Sentencing him Judge Francis Comerford said the defendant was a willing "footsoldier" in a "widespread conspiracy".
The court heard that the organisation would open bank accounts in a country either by using a so-called ‘money mule’ who gave over control of their accounts, or gang members opened multiple accounts using false IDs. False utility bills and insurance documents were used as proof of address.
Once the account was established it was linked to an item for sale on a second-hand goods website. The same item could then be placed for sale on multiple sites in different countries at the same time.
Unsuspecting people would then buy these goods by transferring money into the account. The money was then withdrawn or laundered into another account.
Ciocan, who has been in custody since April 2019, opened accounts with AIB at the Westend Retail Park, Blanchardstown, Dublin, and with KBC online using false identity papers. He also set up an account at Bank of Ireland, Letterkenny, and AIB in Cabra in his own name for the purposes of money laundering.
The court heard evidence from Detective Garda Stephen Kelly from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau that gardaí were working with their colleagues in Europol, and that arrests had been made in Finland in connection with the organisation.
He said gardaí searched the defendant’s address in Letterkenny on foot of a search warrant on April 16th 2019 and found a number of false bank cards, documentation, and SIM cards. Court orders were also obtained for bank account information.
Had convictions
When interviewed subsequently at Roscommon Garda Station in July 2019, he primarily made no comment to garda questions. He said he only had €12 to live on a week and gave no actual explanation about how the money got in his account.
On reviewing the information supplied to them by the banks, gardaí saw that the accounts showed a long-term pattern of large cash lodgements and transfers from multiple foreign jurisdictions. The funds were disposed of by transfers between accounts and immediate large-scale cash withdrawals.
The court also heard that the accused was charged in relation to this matter on March 6th 2020, and had convictions for theft offences in Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The accused's defence said he was from a hard-working, law-abiding family in Romania and he had put himself through university. He was remorseful for his actions.
Judge Comerford said the offences were serious, took place effectively over a two-year period and required a substantial Garda investigation to uncover them.
“The offences were facilitating the commission of this European-wide crime. He participated actively in it by setting up accounts in order to allow this large -scale fraud to take place,” he said.
The judge accepted that the accused was not receiving a large remuneration for his involvement.
“He wasn’t someone who was at a high level. He was someone being used to carry out more low-level activities,” the judge said.
He sentenced Ciocan to three and a half years imprisonment for money laundering, backdated to April 2019, and with the final six months suspended for a year.