Russian millionaire arrested for the largest SMS scam in the world

Russian-born Australian businessman with American citizenship Zhenya Tsvetnenko could face up to 60 years in prison if extradited and convicted of a fraud scheme that helped raise nearly $200 million in the United States from 2011 to 2013. Tsvetnenko was arrested in Australia and faces extradition to the United States and a long prison sentence.

Photo: facebook.com/zhenya.tsvetnenko

In 2016, in Manhattan Federal Court, 39-year-old Yevgeny was charged with electronic communications fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and mail fraud, and conspiracy to launder money, but proceedings for arrest for extradition started only recently, writes New York Post.

He is accused of participating in a fraudulent scheme, through which the system automatically charged mobile phone users with a monthly fee of 13 dollars for text messages containing horoscopes, celebrity news and other minor entertainment texts. An automatic debit was made even if people never subscribed to this service.

The US Department of Justice stated that the money was used to "finance a luxurious lifestyle consisting of expensive leisure and gambling" for Tsvetnenko and seven other participants in the scheme.

But Tsvetnenko, who was arrested on December 20, denies the charges.

“In July 2016, I learned that I had been charged with criminal offenses in 2012 and 2013 in the United States of America,” he said from behind bars through his press secretary, Evelyn Duffy. “I am innocent of the alleged crimes.”

Tsvetnenko will appear in Perth’s court on Tuesday to see if he will be extradited to the United States.

In addition to the Australian businessman, American prosecutors indicted former Mobile Messenger top manager Fraser Thompson and Francis Assifuah, who was responsible for digital content at the same company.

Who is Zhenya Tsvetnenko

Tsvetnenko was born in the 1980 year in Rostov to a family of biochemists, and in the 1992 year he moved with his family to Australia, writes Zarubejom.ru. For the first time, a young programmer was talked about in 2006, when he developed and launched a system of paid SMS services:

“I studied the SMS market, which was only gaining momentum. And I thought that it would be great if people could pay from mobile phones, because they are actually like credit cards! ”, Told Tsvetnenko in one of his interviews.

Soon, Australians began to receive weather forecasts, horoscopes, information about gas stations and traffic jams, games, news, etc. on their mobile phones. One and a half years after launching the service, the Tsvetnenko service already had 147 thousands of subscribers who brought a young businessman a profit of $ 4 million per month.

In 2014, a native of Rostov, and now a resident of Perth, goes further and opens his own company that sells bitcoins, and also supports mobile applications that use cryptocurrency.

However, in addition to professional achievement, the businessman also became known for his luxurious lifestyle. He owns luxury real estate in the US and Europe, as well as a fleet of luxury cars.

Tsvetnenko spent more than $ 2008 million on her wedding, which took place in 1 and became one of the most discussed social events in Australia: the bridal dress was decorated with precious stones, she arrived at the ceremony in a carriage, and after the end of the ceremony instead of pigeons in the air they let out hundreds of thousands of colorful butterflies.

The businessman also preferred to celebrate family holidays in a big way: for example, in honor of his wife Lydia's 29 anniversary (owns the Zhivago fashion brand, in which representatives of the Kardashian family were noticed), he organized a Hollywood party that rapper Snoop Dogg visited and other celebrities. And on his 30-year anniversary, Eugene ordered ice sculptures of his favorite Lamborghini and Ferrari, as well as a cake decorated with a hundred dollar bill with his own portrait.

The entrepreneur and his wife Lydia soon became known in secular circles as “Posh and Becks” (This is what Victoria and David Beckham were called at the beginning of their relationship - approx. ForumDaily). The couple traveled around the Australian Perth in their “Lamborghini” and led a luxurious life.

When journalists asked him how much money he earned, Yevgeny Tsvetnenko modestly admitted that he did not know the exact amount. "I have nothing to hide. I never tried to fool anyone. I made so much money and so quickly that I didn’t have time to really count them, ”the millionaire said.

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