Cybercrime defendant gets more prison time
A Las Vegas defendant sentenced to more than five years in prison last week for his role in the international cybercrime syndicate known as Carder.su has been hit with another term behind bars.
Michael Lofton, 36, of Las Vegas, was sentenced earlier in the week to another two years in prison for committing identity theft and financial fraud crimes while he was residing at a Las Vegas halfway house, according to the Justice Department.
“Some defendants never learn,” Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said Friday. “Lofton thought he could get away with continuing his criminal operation in the halfway house, but thanks to sophisticated law enforcement efforts, he will now be serving two more years in prison.”
Lofton was among 55 Carder.su members charged in four separate Las Vegas indictments in 2012.
According to prosecutors, hundreds of thousands of Americans and several financial institutions were victimized by the Carder.su organization, which had more than 7,800 members worldwide.
The sophisticated group, which found Las Vegas an ideal place to operate, was alleged to have committed more than $50 million worth of financial fraud and likely would have caused three times more losses had it not been broken up, prosecutors alleged.
The indictments in the case resulted from a 4½-year investigation, Operation Open Market, which took off after a federal agent in Las Vegas infiltrated the secretive criminal organization.
This is the first time the Justice Department has used federal racketeering statutes to go after a cybercrime syndicate.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ.
