$71 Million Restitution Owed for Hacking, Fraud Scheme

Pakistani citizen Muhammad Sohail Qasmani has been sentenced to 48 months in prison for laundering $19.6 million on behalf of other actors in an international computer hacking and telecommunications fraud scheme, the DoJ reports. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The massive fraud scheme, which led to losses exceeding $70 million, was allegedly led by Noor Aziz of Karachi, Pakistan, a FBI Cyber Most Wanted suspect who remains at-large. The scheme involved unauthorized access to PBX systems that ran through the internal phone networks of several organizations across the United States.

Hackers targeted victims' phone systems, which were illegally reprogrammed to make calls to long-distance locations and premium numbers to generate revenue. Qasmani laundered proceeds for Aziz and set up bank accounts to receive funds generated by fraudulent calls.

In addition to his prison sentence, Qasmani must pay a $25,000 fine and share restitution of $71,761,956.34 -- the total amount lost in the scheme.

All players convicted in the conspiracy are jointly responsible for the full amount, the DoJ explains. The balance will remain open until paid, whether it's by one member or several.

Read more details here.