Federal officials arrested three men from New York for allegedly stealing over $30 million from banks across Europe. Authorities said that the men, identified as Val Cooper, Alex Levin, and Garri Smith, stole cash and jewelry from safe deposit boxes over a four-year period. They targetted banks in Ukraine, Russia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Latvia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and France.
"The crimes we allege in this indictment read like something straight out of Hollywood fiction," stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. "The thieves used sophisticated tools to thwart security systems at foreign banks and tried to cover their tracks by laundering money through U.S. banks. However, thanks to the outstanding work of our FBI Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force and our international partners, these criminals now face real federal charges and the possibility of real-time in federal prison."
The FBI said that the men chose small banks that lacked a robust security system. One of the men would create an account at the bank, allowing him to access the secure room where the safe deposit boxes were kept. Once inside, he would use "sophisticated camera equipment" to take photos of the locks, allowing the men to make a copy of the keys.
They would then return to the bank and use the duplicate keys to clean out the safe-deposit boxes. The men then laundered the stolen money using U.S. bank accounts.
The three men were charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Travel Act and face up to 20 years behind if convicted.
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