Dejan Medic, Business Email Compromise, New York 2019

Grimy Times has learned that Dejan Medic, a 49-year-old Serbian-Hungarian dual citizen, has pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to participating in a multi-million dollar business email compromise scheme.

According to the indictment, between July 2018 and March 2019, Medic engaged in a scheme to defraud at least 15 victim companies in the United States and Europe by using fraudulent phone calls and spoofed email accounts to obtain money from the companies.

The scheme, which was typical initiated through a telephone call placed to the U.S.-based victim company from a European telephone number, would see the caller pose as a senior executive or board member of the victim company’s Europe-based parent company, requesting the company’s assistance with a purportedly urgent wire transfer of funds regarding purported debts of the parent company.

At least 15 victim companies suffered a total loss of approximately $3.7 million through the course of the scheme, with several victim companies also sending funds directly to Hungarian bank accounts opened and controlled by Medic. Some of the victim companies sent proceeds to other European bank accounts, which were converted to gold.

On April 27, 2019, Medic was arrested by Hungarian authorities attempting to cross the border into Serbia in possession of three serialized gold bars, which were proceeds of the fraud scheme.

Medic, a resident of Szabadk, Serbia, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. The case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit, with Assistant United States Attorneys Jilan Kamal and Louis A. Pellegrino in charge of the prosecution.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams praised the FBI for their outstanding investigative work on the case, which involved significant assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs in securing the extradition of Medic from Hungary.

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