Vanyo Minkov, Bulgarian Hacker Gets 46 Months for stealing over 1,000 Accounting Firms Client’s Info

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa margarita, – In late 2012, Vanyo Minkov, a  citizen of the Republic of Bulgaria  and his conspirators hacked into the networks of at least four accounting firms and stole the 2011 tax filings for over 1,000 of the firms’ clients. Minkov and others then used the stolen information to file fraudulent tax returns in the clients’ names for the 2012 tax year or sold the information to others for the same purpose. To date, the IRS has identified over $6 million in fraudulent claims made in connection with the scheme.

Today, Minkov, was sentenced to 46 months in prison today for his involvement in a $6 million fraudulent tax return scheme that used personal identifying information stolen from multiple accounting firm networks, according to announcement by U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

Minkov, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiring to file false and fraudulent tax returns. Judge Linares imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to court records,  in addition to the prison term, Judge Linares ordered Minkov to serve two years of supervised release and pay restitution of $2,702,555.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Pak of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Ward, Acting Chief of the office’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit.