Man who laundered cryptocurrency jailed for two years

A 43-year-old man has been sentenced to two years in jail after he pleaded guilty to cyber crimes, following an investigation by the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau and the FBI.

Cork Circuit Criminal Court was told that Suleman Mazhar was offering for sale through a website malware and ransomware designed to damage IT systems.

The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, based at Walter Scott House in Dublin, investigates significant and complex cyber crimes, including attacks on corporate and public IT systems.

It also liaises with international law enforcement agencies.

In 2021, the bureau began an investigation into Mazhar, who was living at an address at Douglas in Cork, at the time.

Detectives discovered he was selling through a website false bank accounts and credit cards, as well as offering malware and ransomware designed to disrupt and damage IT systems.

In May 2022, detectives from the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau arrested Mazhar. FBI officers were also present in Cork during the operation, reflecting the international dimension to his crimes.

Detective Sergeant Wes Kenny of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau told the Circuit Criminal Court in Cork that Mazhar replied “no comment” to each question put to him during garda interviews.

Last month, Mazhar pleaded guilty to laundering cryptocurrency, which was worth €80,000 at the time of his arrest and is now worth €200,000. This has since been forfeited for the State.

He also pleaded guilty to dishonestly using a computer to obtain payments for goods and services offered for sale on a website, with the intention of making a gain for himself or causing a loss to another person.

Judge Helen Boyle described what Mazhar did as a deliberate criminal enterprise, set up for the purposes of profit.

She said his early guilty plea had saved the State the cost of a complex trial, but she said her sentence had to act as a general deterrent against cybercrime.

She jailed Mazhar for two years.