SANTA ANA, Calif.—The purported leader of a Romanian organized crime group was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison for identity theft in a scheme to steal money from public assistance accounts with cloned cards.
Florin Duduianu, 39, whose last known address was in Mission Viejo, was convicted of two counts of aggravated identity theft in a non-jury bench trial before U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb Jan. 23.
Before the bench trial, Duduianu pleaded guilty Jan. 5 to three counts of bank fraud and a count of unlawful use of unauthorized access devices.
Holcomb ordered the defendant to pay $1,850 in restitution.
The defendant is allegedly the leader of the Duduianu Clan, the FBI alleged in court papers. He was listed on the country’s most-wanted fugitives list, the FBI reported.
The defendant “fled Europe, illegally entered the United States, and traveled to the Los Angeles area,” FBI Special Agent Rene Persaud said in an affidavit. “Since arriving in the Los Angeles area in 2021, Duduianu applied for legal immigration status and opened a bank account using fraudulent identity documents.”
The Duduianu Clan is “involved in a scheme to steal personal identifying information” as well as Electronic Benefit Transfer card numbers and then using the data to steal about $1,850 in state benefits, Persaud said.
The defendant was arrested in August in Placentia withdrawing cash from automated teller machines using stolen cards, Persaud said.
The FBI agent said the defendant’s group “is one of the most violent and influential organized crime groups in Romania.”
Duduianu was caught up in a crackdown on electronic benefits transfer fraud at various banks and ATMs in Placentia.
The defendant was seen at a Wells Fargo ATM making multiple withdrawals on various cards, prosecutors said. Police found four Visa gift cards, three Wells Fargo ATM receipts and $1,850 in cash in a search of the passenger in Duduianu’s vehicle, prosecutors said.
The EBT cards belonged to four people, prosecutors said.
In a search of the defendant’s cellphone, authorities found dozens of photos and videos related to the use of ATM skimming devices as well as the tools used to steal information from credit cards, prosecutors said.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and local law enforcement on Friday announced they had arrested 48 suspects in a related crackdown on the fraud scheme.
“This defendant came to our country to victimize the neediest members of our society,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said. “Our nation is not a piggy bank for foreign criminals, and those who think they can take advantage of our liberties to harm our people are sorely mistaken.”
