The state sells luxury cars with a total value of over 800,000 euros, confiscated from a criminal group

The National Agency for the Administration of Undisposed Assets is to auction cars worth over 800,000 euros, seized from a criminal group specialized in card cloning in the United States of America, and which were in the Agency’s custody since 2021.

According to a press release from ANABI, sent to Agerpres on Friday, the Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected the appeal against the provision of early capitalization issued by the Bucharest Court regarding seized movable assets in a total value of 805,198 euros.

“The Bucharest Court – Criminal Section admitted, in October 2023, the request of the Organized Crime and Terrorism Investigation Directorate – Central Structure regarding the anticipated capitalization of four vehicles under the Agency’s administration. In this case, having as its object the investigation of the crimes of forming an organized criminal group, falsification of credit titles or payment instruments, illegal operations with computer devices or programs, the Agency was appointed, as early as 2021, custodian of cars by DIICOT – The Central Structure”, the statement states.

According to the cited source, the Agency will proceed with the valorization, immediately, of several goods, respectively:

– a Lamborghini Urus car, estimated value – 280,343 euros,

– a Lamborghini Huracan car, estimated value – 247,028 euros,

– a Mercedes Benz AMG G 63 car, estimated value – 179,761 euros

– a BMW 850I XDrive car, estimated value – 98,066 euros.

Thus, in the next period, the Agency will initiate the property evaluation procedure through independent experts – authorized by ANEVAR – and will organize public auctions by electronic means, informs the quoted source.

On May 6, 2021, DIICOT prosecutors and judicial police officers carried out eight searches at the residences of people suspected of committing the crime of money laundering, who are related to a case investigated in the USA regarding the cloning of bank cards, in the group investigated by the American authorities, a Romanian being also involved.

“In October 2020, the judicial authorities in the United States of America sent to court the members of an organized criminal group, of which a Romanian citizen was a member, a group specialized in committing computer crimes, i.e. illegal operations with computer devices or programs, forgery of credit titles or payment instruments and carrying out financial operations fraudulently”, it was stated in a press release from DIICOT, sent to Agerpres.

From the investigations carried out by the judicial authorities in the United States of America, it emerged that, between March 2019 and June 2020, the Romanian citizen, together with the other members of the group, carried out activities to install skimming devices at ATMs within the city radius Miami Beach, extracting bank card data, forging payment instruments and fraudulently withdrawing sums of money from the accounts of the injured persons.

Part of the sums of money obtained in this way were transferred by the suspect to the territory of Romania, in order to hide their illicit origin.

As a result of the investigations, it turned out that the suspect hid the origin of these sums of money, by entrusting them to different people, for the purpose of later use to satisfy some personal needs and by purchasing, through intermediaries, several luxury cars.

Following the searches, cars were seized, with a value at that time of approximately 840,000 euros, which were handed over to the National Agency for the Administration of Undisclosed Assets, as well as 15 mobile phones, three laptops, a tablet, three bank cards And so on

Editor: Liviu Cojan

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