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Two men who pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy tied to the Infraud Organization were sentenced in federal court in Nevada on March 19, 2021: Sergey Medvedev received 10 years in prison and Marko Leopard received five years. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Infraud caused more than $568 million in actual financial losses; that figure describes the enterprise’s reported losses, not an amount shown to have been personally taken by these two defendants.
How the sentences and alleged roles compare
| Defendant | Role described by DOJ | Guilty plea | Sentence announced March 19, 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sergey Medvedev | DOJ said he co-founded Infraud, operated an escrow service for illicit transactions, and for several years administered the forum, managed its day-to-day operations, decided membership, and disciplined members. | June 2020 | 10 years in prison |
| Marko Leopard | DOJ said he joined in 2011 and provided web hosting for members selling contraband. According to DOJ’s account of court documents, he ignored abuse reports and hosted multiple member sites. | November 2019 | Five years in prison |
Both pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy in the District of Nevada. Their roles are described here as DOJ summarized them from court documents; the announcement does not say either man personally caused or collected the enterprise’s entire reported loss total. DOJ’s sentencing announcement
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What Infraud was
DOJ characterized Infraud as a transnational cybercrime enterprise that acquired and sold fraud-related goods and services. Those included stolen identities, compromised credit-card data, malware, and other contraband. DOJ said the organization victimized millions of people across all 50 U.S. states. DOJ’s sentencing announcement
The case illustrates how such an operation could rely on more than people directly stealing or using data: DOJ described forum administration and escrow facilitation alongside web hosting for members’ sites. The sentences were imposed on these two defendants for their racketeering-conspiracy pleas; they do not establish that every Infraud member was convicted.
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What the $568 million figure means
The $568 million figure is DOJ’s estimate of more than $568 million in actual financial losses, as reported in 2021. A separate 2020 DOJ release put intended losses at approximately $2.2 billion. Intended losses and actual losses are different measures and should not be added together or treated as interchangeable. 2021 actual-loss figure · 2020 intended-loss figure
DOJ’s public announcements do not provide a victim-by-victim accounting of losses or compensation. The aggregate figures therefore do not establish what any particular victim lost or whether an individual victim received restitution.
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How large the organization was and when it ended
- DOJ said Infraud operated for more than seven years and was taken down by law enforcement in February 2018. 2021 sentencing announcement
- DOJ reported 10,901 registered members in March 2017 in a 2020 release; its 2021 announcement described more than 10,000 members at the organization’s peak. 2020 membership figure · 2021 peak estimate
What officials said about the investigation
Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the DOJ Criminal Division said: “Dismantling a cybercrime organization like Infraud requires aggressive pursuit of not only those who steal, sell, and use personal data, but also those who provide the infrastructure that allows cybercrime organizations to operate.”
Special Agent in Charge Francisco Burrola of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Las Vegas said: “While criminal operators lurk in the deepest corners of the internet, they ultimately do not escape the reach of law enforcement.” Both statements were included in DOJ’s sentencing announcement. Read the announcement
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