A Canadian man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Las Vegas to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to steal millions of dollars from thousands of victims in the United States, officials stated.
According to court documents, Poupak Jannissar, 52, of Quebec, Canada, operated and controlled sham companies that used fake checks and other fraudulent debits to steal from victims’ accounts at banks in the United States.
The defendant and his co-conspirators used various names for the sham companies, including Computer Run, EBooks, Joreeb, Memo Storage, Our Online Backup, You Can Fax Too, and Your E-Library.
These companies pretended to sell various internet-based services for consumers, such as cloud storage, internet faxing and online books, officials stated.
However, the sham companies did not actually provide any real products or services. Instead, they served to conceal Jannissar and his co-conspirators’ theft of money from bank accounts.
According to court documents, Jannissar and his co-conspirators bought lists containing misappropriated personal information belonging to thousands of potential victims. They then falsely represented to banks and others that individual victims had authorized debits from their bank accounts.
If the individual victims did not notice and dispute initial charges made by the sham companies, the sham companies would fraudulently debit bank accounts multiple times.
Jannissar and his co-conspirators transferred the money they stole to accounts in Canada.
Jannissar pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering in front of U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, officials stated.
Jannissar was arrested on Jan. 22, at the Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Florida based on a criminal complaint and arrest warrant issued in the District of Nevada by U.S. Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler.
He was subsequently indicted on the charges. He pleaded guilty on Monday.
“Through various sham entities, the defendant and his accomplices stole consumers’ hard-earned money directly from their bank accounts,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department will use all of the tools at its disposal to apprehend and prosecute criminals, whether located inside or outside the United States, who steal from Americans.”
Jannissar faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each charge.
Senior Trial Attorney Daniel Zytnick of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Anthony Lopez for the District of Nevada are prosecuting the case.