Stanislav Tunkevic, 47, of Lithuania has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is currently in the United States.

From at least March 2019 through approximately March 2021, Tunkevic and Vladislav Neceaev, 28, of Brooklyn, New York City, New York USA were members of a money laundering crew, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Neceaev’s mother Natalia Korzha, 49, of Brooklyn coordinated the crew, which was operating from Brooklyn.

Tunkevic, Neceaev and other members of the crew opened numerous bank accounts in the name of shell companies to launder money stolen from consumers who were trying to buy vehicles online in exchange for a cut of the victims’ money. As members of the conspiracy, others pretended to represent car dealerships and advertised vehicles they neither owned nor were authorized to sell through online marketplaces like Craigslist and eBay or on fake websites with domain names that sounded like legitimate car dealerships.

Those who responded to the advertisements and negotiated a purchase price were instructed to wire payment to accounts opened by Tunkevic, Neceaev and theor co-conspirators. As soon as the payments cleared, Tunkevic, Neceaev the other account owners quickly withdrew the funds before the victims realized they had been defrauded. 

Dozens of victims were defrauded of a total of at least $3.5 million. They never received the vehicles they thought they had bought or any refunds from the fraudsters. 

On March 14, 2022, Neceaev pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. On March 25, 2022, Tunkevic was extradited from Lithuania to the U.S.

On March 28, 2022, Tunkevic was presented in federal court in Manhattan, New York City before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave. His fellow defendants Karol Kaminski, Arturas Gilys and Svetlana Vaidotiene are also residents of Lithuana while Anashon Kamalov, also a defendant, is a Brooklyn resident.