NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Two people were sentenced for conspiring to conduct bank fraud linked to a Brooklyn-based money laundering scheme centered on an online car scam that duped dozens of unsuspecting buyers of at least $5.3 million, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced Wednesday.
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From at least March 2019 through approximately last March, Natalia Korzha, 50, managed the money laundering operation that included co-defendant Vladislav Neceaev and others, according to prosecutors.
With Korzha as coordinator, Neceaev and other co-conspirators opened numerous bank accounts in the name of shell companies for the purpose of laundering money stolen from consumers who were trying to buy vehicles online. In exchange, both received a cut of the victims' money.
Additional members of the conspiracy, pretending to represent car dealerships, advertised vehicles that they did not own and were not authorized to sell on fake websites with domain names that sounded like legitimate car dealerships or through online marketplaces like Craigslist and eBay.
Prosecutors said that victims who responded to those advertisements and negotiated a purchase price were instructed by the alleged sellers to wire payment to accounts opened by Neceaev, 28, and other co-conspirators that were not theirs.
Once the payments cleared, Korzha and Neceaev quickly withdrew the funds before the victims realized they had been defrauded. The victims never received the vehicles or any refunds from the fake sellers. In total, dozens of victims were defrauded.
"Natalia Korzha and Vladislav Neceaev opened or caused others to open fraudulent bank accounts that were used to launder millions of dollars in criminal proceeds from an online vehicle sale scam," Williams said. "Without those fraudulent accounts, online fraudsters would not be able to profit from their illegal schemes. Korzha and Neceaev now face terms of imprisonment and will be required to forfeit their ill-gotten gains."
Korzha was ordered to forfeit $5,386,538 and pay $5,370,180 in restitution, while Neceaev was ordered to forfeit $458,300 and pay $458,300 in restitution.
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