DoJ Watch

Its Monday so time to look at the recent DoJ cases. No new cases on the Web site but one of the sentences handed down in the Shadowcrew case has an amusing twist.

In Cleveland, Ohio Man Sentenced to Prison for Bank Fraud and Conspiracy (February 28, 2006) we read:

"Nugent sentenced Kenneth J. Flury, age 41, of 4692 West 149th Street, Cleveland, Ohio, to 32 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, as a result of Flury’s recent convictions for Bank Fraud and Conspiracy. Flury was also ordered to pay restitution to CitiBank in the amount of $300,748.64, and a $200 special assessment to the Crime Victim’s Fund"

That $200 extra...

The press release is quite interesting as it contains a lot of details of how the crime was going on. Flury was buying credit card numbers and PINs through Shadowcrew and using them to make up fake ATM cards. He took over $384,000 in cash advances and paid his suppliers approximately $167,000. That is interesting as it shows that the 'cut' for the phishing gangs at the time was almost exactly half despite the fact that carding is usually considered the riskier part of the crime. Although it is also likely that he had bought more card numbers than he was able to use before being caught.

The most significant part is that he made his $167K in the space of only 3 weeks, not a bad pay rate by film star standards.