Southern California residents arrested in German financial fraud scheme
The U.S. will extradite five Southern California residents who are charged by German authorities with an alleged financial fraud scheme.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the suspects allegedly defrauded thousands of victims of more than 300 million euros, about $345 million, and created a shadow financial system in Germany.
U.S. Marshals arrested the five residents, one of whom was a Canadian National:
- Medhat Mourid, of Woodland Hills
- Andrew Garroni, of Los Angeles
- Guy Mizrachi, of Agoura Hills
- Ardeshir Akhavan, of Irvine
- Canadian National Tunde Benak, of Irvine,
German authorities said the five suspects allegedly created a scheme involving recurring debit and credit charges of less than 50 euros, about $58, to avoid suspicion. The charges were linked to fictitious companies, according to German authorities.
The U.S. DOJ added that the scheme involved German executives and compliance officers, who were arrested earlier this week. International law enforcement also carried out arrests and searches in Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore.
