Ms Pisasale of our office recently dealt with a conspiracy to defraud matter. It involved members of a Romanian crime syndicate attaching credit-card skimming devices attached to ATMs.
In this case, two members of the card-skimming syndicate had placed card-skimming devices at a number of ATMs across Melbourne between March and May 2014. The gang members wore wigs, blue overalls, fluoro tops and construction hard hats in this conspiracy to defraud. Using the information illegally downloaded onto gift cards, members would withdraw funds from ATMs across Melbourne. The total fraud value was approximately $250,000.000. County Court Judge Bill Stuart said the men’s offending had affected the integrity of the banking system to “a considerable degree”.
An excellent result for our client
Co-accused Schneider, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to cheat and defraud. The court jailed him for 5½ years with a non-parole period of 3½ years. Our client pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy to defraud charge and was jailed for 2½ years with a minimum of 20 months. The judge noted he had no criminal history and his prospects for rehabilitation were excellent. Mr Oltean was born in Romania and sought political asylum in the United Kingdom in 2000. He arrived in Melbourne from Britain in May 2014 on a tourist visa before joining the conspiracy. He confessed to his involvement immediately after his arrest. The court found him to be genuinely remorseful. His solicitor successfully ensured that his role in the conspiracy to defraud offending was significantly distinguished to that of his co-accused.
LINK TO ARTICLE:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/members-of-romanian-cardskimming-gang-jailed-20150805-gis09s.html