Parks III, also known as “CP3O,” has been charged with defrauding two prominent cloud service providers. Parks allegedly stole $3.5 worth of computational resources offered by the service providers.
The resources were then utilized to mine $970,000 worth of cryptocurrencies. Park is set to appear before the federal court in Omaha on April 16.
The FBI is committed to the steadfast pursuit of those who attempt to develop innovative techniques to commit crimes,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Smith. Park’s scheme was active from January 2021 to August 2021.
Further, Park managed to trick the plaintiffs into offering him elevated access to their services. Using the resources, he mined multiple cryptocurrencies, including Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Monero (XMR).
He was also accused of deflecting inquiries about questionable data usage and deferring bills. Prosecutors added that Park laundered the funds via multiple cryptocurrency exchanges, an NFT marketplace, and traditional bank accounts.
The transactions were also structured in a way that avoids exceeding the federal reporting threshold of $10,000. He used the illicit funds for personal gains, including buying a “Mercedes Benz luxury car, jewelry and first-class hotel and travel expenses.”
If found guilty, he is expected to face a maximum of 20 years in prison for wire fraud and 10 years for illegal transaction charges.
The accused was arrested in Jan. 2024 by the National Police of Ukraine, claiming that over $2 million in cryptocurrencies was mined.