Doru Gabriel Trifu, Wire Fraud, Texas 2013

VICTORIA, TX – A federal jury in Victoria has delivered a guilty verdict against Doru Gabriel Trifu, a Romanian national, in a wire fraud scheme that spanned across Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Trifu, 28, was found guilty on all 33 counts of wire fraud, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. The jury returned its verdicts on November following a four-day trial.

According to the indictment, Trifu was part of a scheme in which consumer items were listed for sale over the Internet. Potential buyers were instructed to send money via MoneyGram to an escrow agent who would accept the funds, complete the transaction, and deliver the item. However, after the buyer electronically transferred the money, the item would never be delivered.

During the trial, the government presented videos and numerous surveillance photographs taken from Wal-Mart stores across Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama where the fraudulent transactions occurred.

Several victims testified, describing how they were told they were purchasing the item from a US serviceman who was about to deploy to the Middle East and were told to use a third-party broker to complete the transaction.

An agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) also testified and identified a pattern of approximately 230 fraudulent transactions between March 2011 and February 2012 using two fake US passport numbers. Over the course of the scheme, the amount of identified fraud totaled more than $567,000.

Senior US District Judge John Rainey has set sentencing for December 2, 2013, at which time Trifu faces a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment and a possible $250,000 fine on each count. Trifu has been in custody since his November arrest in California, where he will remain pending the hearing.

The case was investigated by HSI. Assistant US Attorney Lance Watt is prosecuting.

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