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Adrian Mitan, Money Laundering, Lexington KY, 2021
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Adrian Mitan, 36, a Romanian national, is headed to federal prison for a decade and eight months after being sentenced to 140 months on Friday. U.S. District Judge Robert Wier handed down the sentence after Mitan pleaded guilty to a sprawling money laundering conspiracy tied to multiple fraud schemes targeting American citizens. The case exposes a sophisticated network preying on vulnerable individuals through online marketplaces and financial systems.
Mitan wasn’t a lone operator. Court documents reveal he worked with accomplices to advertise goods on sites like Craigslist, then siphoned funds from unsuspecting buyers. The money wasn’t just pocketed; it was funneled through a complex operation with roots in the Eastern District of Kentucky, designed to obscure its origin and evade law enforcement. This wasn’t a smash-and-grab; it was a calculated, multi-layered attempt to fleece Americans.
The scope of the fraud extended beyond simple online scams. Mitan admitted involvement in a credit card fraud scheme that involved phishing for card information and brute-force attacks on point-of-sale systems. He and his crew then used cloned cards to drain ATMs, converting the illicit gains into Bitcoin and shipping the cryptocurrency overseas. The scale is staggering: Mitan possessed roughly 16,000 unique credit and debit card codes, a digital arsenal built on stolen identities and financial ruin.
Adding another layer of deceit, Mitan participated in a “vishing” scheme – voice phishing – where he hacked into small business phone systems and deployed scripts to trick customers into revealing their debit and credit card details. The operation targeted customers of more than ten financial institutions, resulting in the compromise of roughly 2,130 access devices. It’s a chilling example of how easily trust can be exploited in the digital age.
Federal authorities, including the U.S. Secret Service, Kentucky State Police, and IRS-Criminal Investigations, collaborated on the investigation. The case was supported by the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2). Crucially, Romanian authorities – the Romanian National Police and the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism – provided essential assistance, highlighting the international nature of this criminal enterprise.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn M. Anderson and Kenneth R. Taylor of the Eastern District of Kentucky, alongside Senior Trial Attorney Timothy C. Flowers and Senior Counsel Frank H. Lin of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, secured the conviction. Mitan will be required to serve 85 percent of his sentence under federal law. Anyone believing they may have been a victim of these schemes is urged to contact the authorities.
Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
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