New York man pleads guilty to money laundering crimes related to nearly half million dollars stolen from local business through computer malware

Press Release

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A New York man pleaded guilty in federal court here today to crimes related to laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Columbus strength training equipment manufacturer.

Aleksandr Bogomolny, 53, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit and committing money laundering.

According to court documents, in May 2021, the FBI received a complaint to its Internet Crime Complaint Center from Rogue Fitness, which is headquartered in Columbus. The company had identified 78 outgoing transfers from a PayPal account between March 29 and April 29, 2021, totaling nearly half a million dollars.

The FBI discovered a banking Trojan that had infected the computer of a customer service employee just prior to the transfers. The specific Trojan found on the employee laptop is known by the FBI to steal banking credentials and usually targets corporate victims.

The stolen money was transferred to 22 different card numbers, including to Bogomolny's Bank of America card.

Further investigation of Bogomolny's bank account revealed that between December 2019 and July 2021, he laundered more than $247,000 in criminal proceeds through his account.

While executing a search warrant at the defendant's Brooklyn residence, agents found documents that included more than 341,000 unique identifiers like names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. The search also discovered images of driver's licenses, U.S. passports and full lists of full credit card numbers.

Bogomolny also used the online gambling site FanDuel to conspire to launder money. He and others would steal a victim's identity and use it to create a FanDuel account. Then criminal proceeds were deposited into the account and later withdrawn. In total, Bogomolny and others used this scheme to deposit nearly $572,000 and withdraw more than $485,000 of the criminal proceeds.

Finally, Bogomolny's plea documents detail that, in 2023, the defendant met with undercover FBI agents and agreed to launder $20,000 for a six percent fee. The funds were represented as proceeds of illegal drug activities.

Between November 2023 and March 2024, Bogomolny sent $18,800 of the original $20,000 back to the undercover FBI agents through multiple ACH transactions.

Bogomolny later agreed to accept another $50,000 from the undercover agents. He met up with the agents in April 2024 and accepted the money, at which point he was arrested.

Money laundering and conspiring to launder money are federal crimes punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Congress sets the maximum statutory sentence, and sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the Court at a future hearing based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the guilty plea entered today before U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley. Assistant United States Attorney Peter K. Glenn-Applegate is representing the United States in this case.

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Updated November 26, 2024