Category: Banking

A man accused of helping run an international money-laundering network that relied on more than 15,000 unwitting money mules pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on Thursday.

Oleg Korniev, 42, a dual Ukrainian-Russian citizen, was a principal of Your Mule Cashout (YMCO). From 2007 to 2014, the operation recruited people in the United States, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Australia through websites posing as legitimate companies offering jobs.

Applicants were put through what appeared to be a standard hiring process, including an employment test and reviews of contracts and company policies. They were then asked to enter their bank details on a fake company website and told to receive payments and forward them to overseas business accounts.

Authorities say YMCO laundered at least $10 million for hackers who used malware to access 750 U.S. bank accounts. Most of the stolen money was sent to Eastern Europe through Western Union or MoneyGram. There, “cash-out contractors” collected the funds and returned them to YMCO in exchange for a share.

Korniev was arrested in North Carolina last December, nearly nine years after a grand jury indicted him and Serghei Ivanovich Tomuz, a Moldovan national alleged to have led YMCO’s cash-out operation in Moldova.

The case against Tomuz was terminated in U.S. federal court in May. He was reportedly arrested at a Romanian border crossing in May 2022 and challenged his extradition to the United States.

Four Ukrainians linked to YMCO pleaded guilty to money-laundering conspiracy charges and were sentenced in 2018 to prison terms ranging from 37 to 63 months.

Korniev pleaded guilty to money laundering, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, conspiracy to commit access-device theft and aggravated identity theft. He faces a minimum sentence of two years and a maximum of 50 years in prison.

A Minneapolis bank teller is accused of stealing nearly $41,000 by falsifying records and replacing real cash with counterfeit bills, according to a criminal complaint.

Kendrell Lashawna Maliya Stuart, 25, faces a felony theft-by-swindle charge tied to the U.S. Bank branch where she worked at 4930 34th Avenue South. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

A bank investigator told the court that an audit uncovered a series of cash shortages. The branch vault was reportedly short $32,000 on May 30, 2026, and another $1,000 on June 1. On June 5, Stuart reported that $1,999.94 was missing from her assigned cash box. She then stopped coming to work and requested a leave of absence.

The complaint alleges that a June 9 audit found $6,000 in counterfeit “motion picture money” stored with mutilated currency. Bank records and surveillance footage reportedly showed Stuart recording cash transfers from her cash box to the vault without depositing the cash.

Stuart had not returned to work by July 29, and the bank later terminated her, according to the complaint. Minneapolis police received a report of the alleged theft on August 19.

A Hennepin County judge issued an arrest warrant and set bail at $100,000. Stuart is not in custody. The complaint says social media posts suggest she may be in the Bahamas, her native home.