U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday highlighted the guilty plea of a person operating under the guise of Shrek, marking the latest victory against members of an alleged cybercriminal organization.
The Department of Justice announced that Kunal Mehta, a 45-year-old California-based suspect, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy under the Racketeering and Illegal Organizations Act (RICO) and cooperating in laundering at least $25 million in virtual currency. press release.
According to authorities, the person used several aliases, including but not limited to DreamWorks’ classic animated film series released in 2001. He was also called “Daddy” and “Accountant” (also the title of the movie), the Justice Department said.
“We are committed to rooting out this wrongdoing and holding those responsible fully accountable,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement. “Kunal Mehta, along with his co-conspirators, stole hundreds of millions of dollars in virtual currency from victims.”
Authorities say Mehta was part of a group that stole $263 million in cryptocurrency from victims across the United States as part of a sophisticated social engineering and hacking operation. He is the eighth person to admit involvement in the scheme, according to a press release.
After laundering stolen funds through cryptocurrency exchanges, coin mixerpreviously according to the Justice Department, members of the group spent lavishly on “nightclubs in Los Angeles and Miami, luxury cars, watches, jewelry, designer handbags, and rental homes.” press release.
authorities was indicted A superseding indictment unsealed in April charged 13 people, some of whom were co-defendants as young as 18 at the time. Mehta was the oldest of five people known to live in California.
Members of the group, which started its operations in October 2023, were said to have taken on different roles, including hacking databases, identifying targets, and even robberies. According to the fast-track indictment, Mehta was among six others who “laundered money.”
Around the beginning of last year, Mehta was introduced to members of a cybercrime group and “provided virtual currency-to-cash and virtual currency-to-wire money laundering services for a fee,” prosecutors alleged.
Mehta was said to have owned the exotic car in his own name to hide its real ownership. At one point, prosecutors said, Mehta delivered “a duffel bag containing approximately $500,000” in cash to his co-defendants and their associates after receiving the stolen cryptocurrency.
It is unclear which vehicles mentioned in the indictment were stored in Mehta’s name, but the filing lists 28 vehicles as subject to forfeiture. These included seven Lamborghinis, three Ferraris, one Rolls-Royce, and one McLaren.
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