New York man pleads guilty to managing card fraud ring

A New York man this week pleaded guilty to managing a credit card fraud ring that operated throughout the East Coast and resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in reported damages.

Jonathan Oliveras, 26, of Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., to charges of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. Oliveras managed the scheme by purchasing stolen credit card information through the internet from individuals believed to be from Russia, according to his plea agreement. He then created fraudulent credit cards with the stolen information and used them to make purchases.

He also distributed the stolen data to others in New York, New Jersey and the Washington, D.C. area, prosecutors said.

When federal agents searched his Brooklyn residence, they found 2,341 stolen credit card accounts stored on his computers; equipment to make counterfeit cards; and 409 gift, debit or credit cards, with a total value of more than $42,000.

Credit card companies reported to the government that they received more than 4,400 fraudulent transactions totaling $770,674 made using accounts that Oliveras illegally possessed.

Oliveras is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28, when he faces 22 years in prison and up to $1.5 million in fines.