The leader of a $200 million credit card fraud ring that was busted earlier this year has now plead guilty to his actions. This case is one of the largest instances of fraud ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice, taking down at least 22 men and women in the United States alone.
Tahir Lodhi of Hicksville, New York, has admitted to playing a leading role in the scheme. He now has to accept his punishment.
Lodhi appeared before the U.S. District Judge in Trenton, where he was sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison, as well as a $1 million fine. Lodhi's lawyer is suggesting that he was nothing close to a leader in the operation, and he is requesting a time-served sentence for his client. The attorney, Howard Simmons, says that Lodhi is not a U.S. citizen and that his home country is Pakistan.
People across three different countries have been arrested as part of the ring, and authorities expect to make more arrests in the future.
The fraud ring involved over 7,000 fake identities, as well as 1,800 fake mailing addresses and 25,000 fraudulent credit cards. All of these were used to boost credit lines and take out large loans that were never repaid.
"One of the world's major facilitation networks for online card fraud has been dismantled by this operation, and those engaged in this type of crime should know that they are neither anonymous, nor beyond the reach of law enforcement agencies," said Andy Archibald of the National Cyber Crime Unit.
