As someone that has recently come into the world of invoices, pay apps, POs, etc. I've had to really hunt down people to provide backup on work hour tracking, material, shipping tickets, etc. because no one checks that shit and my company ends up double paying or double ordering shit all the time.I've always wondered if people really paid attention to these things. Like no one checks my ID at many places I do contract work for. I just say my name and then they pretty much just show me the door of where in working at without a blink of an eye.
He ran a pretty good fraud, NYT goes into description here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/business/facebook-google-wire-fraud.html
(From the SDNY filing)
He ran a pretty good scheme. He didn't just send bogus emails from his gmail or something, but registered and incorporated a (fake) company in Latvia that's the same name as a company in China, used phishing emails to get employee data from the other company and spoof their invoices/emails, and then ran phishing schemes to get data from Google & Facebook to send those fraudulent emails/invoices to the victim companies. It is kinda "guy sent fake emails asking for money," but... a bit more complex than that, as he actually registered a fraudulent business, opened bank accounts around the world, and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through them. He also had charges of identity theft and other money laundering charges that were dropped for the guilty plead.
His defense is that he's just one piece of a larger fraud organization scamming people, but his guilty plead was just for this fraud. If he can lead to more prosecutions, then I doubt he'll get the max sentence. The max sentence hangs over him as a potential carrot and stick to help prosecutors.
I'm surprised, but I guess I shouldn't be, that people think a possible sentence of 30 years is excessive for someone who has stolen $100m+. I hate Facebook as much as anybody, but this guy's not your hero
What about shareholders? What about employees? All of them are evil?Billion dollar multi-national corporations aren't my friend either. I can't be mad at a guy hustling against a giant, evil corporation. It's largely a victimless crime.
What about shareholders? What about employees? All of them are evil?
100m dollars can employ a lot of people and be used to issue dividends. It's real money...What employee was personally harmed by his crime? And, has Google or Facebook's share prices dropped dramatically in the last couple years? I think you know the answer to both questions.
Billion dollar multi-national corporations aren't my friend either. I can't be mad at a guy hustling against a giant, evil corporation. It's largely a victimless crime.
In a court appearance, Mr. Rimasauskas said that he had knowingly participated in fraud and that his role was to set up the bank accounts to facilitate the scheme, Bloomberg reported. "I was asked to open bank accounts," he reportedly said. "After that I did not do anything with these accounts."
100m dollars can employ a lot of people and be used to issue dividends. It's real money...
It's certainly possible. And not just employees... they could've held off on hiring any number of contractors outside their business as well.So, you're saying Google and Facebook held off on hiring new employees because of business expenses they paid for that they thought was legitimate? And, that these expenses were extremely detrimental to their operating expenses but at the same time not worthy of double-checking to see if they were legitimate due to the sheer volume and amount of transactions they conduct.
The IRS should do that too, maybe the American people can get the money they are owed from US corporations.
What employee was personally harmed by his crime? And, has Google or Facebook's share prices dropped dramatically in the last couple years? I think you know the answer to both questions.
Happens all the time, although most will send out invoices with realistic numbers like $723.52.
ResetEra, where video game piracy is the most heinous crime ever but stealing $122m from Facebook and Google is okay
Iam 29. To think that i would be in prison for this long is unbelievable. So much i lived through, done etc.
I hope someone saves all the posters praising this guy when it pops up that he used the money for sex trafficking or something awful, considering he's a criminal and all.
I wonder if you can still try it and get away with it, these huge corporations have also tons of bureocracy
read this:
Yeah sorry this guy shouldn't be punished over 3x as much as Paul "I'm like an alcoholic but for crimes" Manafort