Lithuanian Man Pleads Guilty to $100 Million Fraud Against Google, Facebook --Update
20 Março 2019 - 10:27PM
Dow Jones News
By Kristin Broughton
A Lithuanian man pleaded guilty to his role in a complex wire
fraud scheme that resulted in the theft of over $100 million from
Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Facebook Inc., prosecutors said
Wednesday.
Evaldas Rimasauskas, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of wire
fraud in connection with a scheme that duped the two tech giants
into wiring millions of dollars into foreign bank accounts between
2013 and 2015, according to prosecutors in the Southern District of
New York.
He also agreed to forfeit about $49.7 million he obtained in
relation to the wire fraud charge, according to court records.
Mr. Rimasauskas orchestrated the scheme by creating a company in
Latvia with the same name as a hardware manufacturer with which
Google and Facebook regularly did millions of dollars in business,
prosecutors said.
He then sent email messages to employees at the two companies,
directing them to wire payments for bills Facebook and Google
legitimately owed into bank accounts Mr. Rimasauskas controlled in
Latvia and Cyprus, prosecutors said.
After funds were deposited, Mr. Rimasauskas spread the money out
by wiring it to various bank accounts in Latvia, Cyprus, Slovakia,
Lithuania, Hungary and Hong Kong, prosecutors said, adding that he
also forged invoices, contracts and letters, which were submitted
to banks to justify the transactions.
Lithuanian authorities arrested Mr. Rimasauskas in March 2017.
He was extradited to New York five months later, according to
prosecutors.
Paul David Petrus Jr., a lawyer for Mr. Rimasauskas, said
Wednesday that he plans to argue for leniency at sentencing. Mr.
Rimasauskas is scheduled to be sentenced on July 24, prosecutors
said.
A Google spokesman said Wednesday that the company alerted
authorities to the fraud after the company detected it. "We
recouped the funds and we're pleased this matter is resolved," he
said in an emailed statement.
Facebook recovered most of the funds and has been cooperating
with the investigation, a company spokeswoman said in a
statement.
Write to Kristin Broughton at Kristin.Broughton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 20, 2019 21:12 ET (01:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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