Two Ukrainians have been extradited to the United States for their roles in a network that provided cash-out and money-laundering facilities to cybercriminals.
Viktor Vorontsov, 39, and Zlata Hanska Muzhuk, 40, both from Ukraine, were apprehended in the Czech Republic. They were charged in the Northern District of Texas in February 2020.
According to the indictment, the two were part of a cash-out and money laundering network that provided services to cybercriminals who used compromised identities to gain access to bank accounts and then diverted funds to cash-out actors’ drop accounts.
According to the indictment, Muzhuk and Vorontsov run a network of drop accounts and money mules that enabled them to fraudulently move money from victims.
The scheme lasted “for the whole year of 2017,” according to the indictment. About $500,000 was exchanged as part of the plot in October and November of that year.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Czech National Organized Crime Agency (NCOZ) worked together to collect information against Muzhuk and Vorontsov.
In early 2020, a criminal charge and an arrest warrant were released in Dallas, and the two were detained in the Czech Republic, where Muzhuk was paying a visit to Vorontsov.
Both were arrested awaiting extradition hearings and moved to FBI custody on March 3, 2021, after the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Justice granted their extraditions in January and February.
They also appeared in court in Texas’ Northern District and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
