Cork man jailed for two years for money laundering in cyber fraud case

A man who was arrested as part of an international investigation into cybercrime has been jailed for two years for cyber fraud, which included the money laundering of €80,000 in cryptocurrency.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that Suleman Mazhar (44) claimed he was unable to put his aptitude for computers to good use as his poor command of Irish prevented him from going to third level to obtain a qualification.
Instead Mazhar, formerly of Moneygourney, Douglas, Co Cork, used his computer skills to design websites before setting up one which offered false bank accounts and credit cards.
He was also providing malware, designed to disrupt or damage IT systems, and ransomware, which similarly disrupts IT operating systems until a ransom is paid by the victim of the cyberattack.
Det Sgt Wesley Kenny of the Garda National Cyber Crime Unit said that the €80,000 in cryptocurrency money laundered by Mazhar is now worth €200,000. It has been forfeited to the State.
Mazhar was arrested in May 2022 following a year-long investigation by gardaí and the FBI. Gardaí seized a large amount of cryptocurrency consisting of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Doge Coin, Monero, XLM, Dash and Cardano.
Det Sgt Kenny indicated that Mazhar was questioned by gardaí. He replied “No comment” when questions were put to him in garda interviews. The case was set to go to trial. However, Mazhar entered a guilty plea.
Mazhar pleaded guilty to two charges – money laundering and using a computer to commit theft. The money laundering took place in the State between June 2020 and July 2021, and relates to knowing or believing cryptocurrency held in a Coinbase account in his name was the proceeds of crime.
Mazhar also pleaded guilty to dishonestly operating a computer between September 2nd, 2020 and March 11th, 2022 with the intention of making a gain for himself or cause loss to another by obtaining payments for goods and services offered for sale at .
Jane Hyland, SC for the defence, said that her client had operated on his own. Det Sgt Kenny agreed that there was no evidence of anyone else being involved in the criminality.
Judge Helen Boyle said Mazhar, by his plea, had spared the state a “lengthy and complex” trial.
Judge Boyle jailed the accused for two years on each count to run concurrently.
Judge Boyle said that her sentence had to act as a deterrent against cybercrime. The sentence will be backdated to when he first entered custody.