Credit card launderers barred and fined

Two defendants charged with laundering millions of dollars in credit card charges through fraudulent merchant accounts have settled with the Federal Trade Commission.

Under the proposed settlement order, the defendants, Nikolas Mihilli and Dynasty Merchants, LLC – a company created by Mihilli to launder fraudulent transactions – are prohibited from engaging in credit card laundering. They are also banned from telemarketing, and from acting as payment processors, independent sales organizations, or sales agents.

According to the complaint filed by the FTC, the defendants arranged for a deceptive operation known as Money Now Funding to obtain and maintain merchant accounts that allowed the operation to process almost $6 million through the credit card networks. The FTC charged Mihilli and Dynasty Merchants, LLC with violating the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

A monetary judgment of $5.8 million has been suspended due to the defendants’ inability to pay. If the court finds that either defendant misstated or omitted the value of any material asset, the judgment will immediately become due.