Iranian Member of International Cybercrime Conspiracy Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/iranian-member-international-cybercrime-conspiracy-sentenced-10-years-prison-selling-stolen
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Iranian Member of International Cybercrime Conspiracy Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Selling Stolen Credit Card Information Online
An Iranian man was sentenced today to 120 months in federal prison for access device fraud and 60 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit identity theft and access device fraud, to be served concurrently, in connection with an international scheme to sell credit card information online. He was further ordered to pay $36.6 million in restitution.
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Milad Kalantari, 32, an Iranian citizen, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the Southern District of Mississippi. Kalantari was arrested in December 2015, when he entered the United States at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. On Oct. 6, 2016, Kalantari pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identity theft and access device fraud and one count of substantive access device fraud.
As part of the plea, Kalantari admitted that he was a member of a financial fraud conspiracy that owned and operated numerous websites, in Kalantaris name, dedicated to the distribution and sale of stolen credit and debit card information belonging to victims all over the world including citizens and banks located throughout the United States. As part of the scheme, Kalantari sold approximately 2.5 million stolen credit cards on his websites, with an intended loss amount valued at over $1.2 billion. More than $35 million in actual losses have been confirmed with U.S. companies including more than $26 million in losses to Discover Card and almost $5 million in losses to American Express.
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