U.S. prosecutors have accused a Nebraska man, Charles O. Parks III, of orchestrating a large “cryptojacking” operation that illegally obtained $3.5 million from two cloud service providers based in Seattle and Redmond, Washington.
The illegal operation allegedly generated nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency by using the providers’ resources without their consent.
Dubbed “CP3O,” Parks faces charges of wire fraud and money laundering for this scheme, as announced by the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The prosecution claims that Parks financed lavish expenditures, including a luxury car, jewelry, and upscale travel, with the proceeds. Arrested on April 13, Parks could face up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
The indictment details that Parks exploited services from “Company 1,” a cloud computing and consumer electronics firm in Seattle, and “Company 2,” a personal computing services company in Redmond.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace emphasized the commitment to prosecute those who misuse advanced technologies for illegal gains.
Between January and August 2021, Parks reportedly used various pseudonyms and business entities, including MultiMillionaire LLC and CP3O LLC, to fraudulently set up accounts with these providers. These accounts enabled him to access premium services and deferred billing.
According to the charges, Parks laundered part of the illicitly obtained cryptocurrencies through an unregulated “Cryptocurrency Exchange 1” and further through a payments provider, bank accounts, and an NFT marketplace in New York City.
He cleverly avoided federal reporting requirements by making transactions slightly under the $10,000 threshold.
Despite having an account suspended due to nonpayment and fraudulent activities, Parks allegedly opened another account with the same provider the following day and accrued over $2.5 million in services from the Seattle-based firm.
The indictment also accuses Parks of using similar tactics to cheat the Redmond-based company out of more than $969,000 in cloud computing services.