Romanian man gets 4 years in Internet fraud case - Chicago Tribune: "A Romanian man was sentenced to 48 months, or 4 years, in federal prison today for his role in an Internet fraud conspiracy, federal officials said.
Adrian Ghighina, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly in Chicago, according to a press release issued by the Department of Justice. Ghighina pleaded guilty in February to one count each of wire fraud and conspiracy, officials said."
Ghighina, who entered the United States legally in late 2004, acted as a “money mule” in an Internet fraud conspiracy, officials said. Ghighina’s co-conspirators, many of whom are in Romania, created fraudulent online auctions for expensive items such as cars, motorcycles and RVs on websites such as eBay, Craigslist and AutoTrader.com, according to the release.
People who responded to the false listings were directed to send payment for the non-existent items using Western Union and bank wire transfers to accounts controlled by Ghighina, officials said.
Ghighina admitted that he moved from city to city where he opened accounts at various banks using false identification. The victims never received the items for which they had paid.
From September 2005 until his arrest in October 2009 in Miami, Ghighina opened accounts and/or received funds in Illinois, the District of Columbia, Florida, New York and Arizona.
Ghighina was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois and in also by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia.
