The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has sentenced 31-year-old Malachi Mullings to 10 years in prison for laundering more than $4.5 million. Mullings, a resident of Sandy Springs, Georgia, engaged in extensive business email compromise (BEC) schemes and romance scams to defraud victims.
In January 2023, Mullings pleaded guilty to the money laundering charges. Court documents revealed that he opened 20 fraudulent bank accounts under the name The Mullings Group LLC, a fake company. These accounts were used to launder millions obtained through various cyber scams between 2019 and July 2021.
The illegal proceeds came from BEC attacks targeting healthcare programs, private companies, and other entities. Romance scams, particularly those targeting elderly victims, were also part of Mullings’ fraudulent operations.
BEC scams are cyber-attacks where criminals trick companies into transferring funds by pretending to be trusted business partners. These attacks usually involve fake emails that instruct companies to send money to accounts controlled by fraudsters.
According to the DoJ, Mullings and his co-conspirators concealed their activities by conducting complex financial transactions. They used the stolen funds to buy luxury items, including expensive cars and jewelry. One significant purchase was a Ferrari, bought after receiving $260,000 from a romance scam.
In a related development, Russian citizen Evgeniy Doroshenko, 31, has been indicted for selling access to corporate networks on cybercrime forums. Doroshenko, who remains at large, faces up to 25 years in prison for wire fraud and computer-related crimes.
Doroshenko, operating under the alias “Flanker,” was part of an online criminal marketplace that traded stolen data and offered access to victim networks. His activities spanned from 2019 to May 2024, according to the DoJ.
