The United States has arrested five international fugitives, including a Nigerian national, at the request of Germany, in connection with a €300 million fraud scheme that targeted thousands of victims and created a shadow financial system in the European country.
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The arrests, carried out in the Central District of California, were coordinated under U.S.-German treaty obligations for the purpose of extradition to Germany. The defendants include four U.S. citizens Medhat Mourid of Woodland Hills, Andrew Garroni of Los Angeles, Guy Mizrachi of Agoura Hills, Ardeshir Akhavan of Irvine and Canadian national Tunde Benak of Irvine. They were taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service and made their initial federal court appearances on Tuesday.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California, and U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces S. Serralta jointly announced the arrests.
German authorities allege that the fugitives orchestrated a complex scheme involving fictitious merchants and companies, generating millions of recurring fraudulent debit and credit card charges. The perpetrators allegedly kept monthly charges below €50 to avoid detection and colluded with executives and compliance officers of German payment service processors to facilitate the transactions. Former employees of these processors were among those arrested in Germany.
According to German prosecutors, the scheme resulted in the creation of a shadow financial system, bypassing standard banking regulations.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) worked closely with German officials and the Central District of California to provide legal guidance, ensuring the arrests complied with U.S. law and paving the way for extradition. Arrests and searches were conducted simultaneously in Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Singapore.
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