N.J. man gets prison time, must help repay $50.8 million in credit card scheme

A member of the cybercrime syndicate known as Carder.su was sentenced Thursday to 12½ years in federal prison for selling stolen and counterfeit credit cards over the Internet.

Jermaine Smith, 34, of New Jersey, was also ordered to share with other defendants in the restitution of $50.8 million.

Smith was among 56 people charged in four separate federal indictments in Las Vegas in the cybercrime investigation, dubbed Operation Open Market. A total of 26 defendants have been convicted and the rest are either fugitives or waiting to stand trial.

Smith pleaded guilty in October 2014 to one count of participating in a racketeering organization.

“Criminal cyber organizations like Carder.su threaten not just U.S. citizens but people in every corner of the globe,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said in a news release. “Managers in Russia seamlessly ran their criminal enterprise online using, among others, a counterfeit card vendor from New Jersey, with whom they communicated through screen name aliases.”

Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden added: “Mr. Smith’s crimes were very serious and justify a lengthy prison sentence. He admitted that he caused a loss of $7 million to $20 million involving over 250 victims and that he obstructed justice when he fled to Jamaica while released on bond awaiting trial.”

Smith admitted in his plea agreement that he became associated with the Carder.su organization — a criminal enterprise that trafficked in compromised credit card data and counterfeit identifications and committed money laundering, narcotics trafficking, and various types of computer crime.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ