The man behind an international organization that laundered money for cybercriminals with the help of more than 15,000 unwitting money mules pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. federal court. 

Oleg Korniev, a 42-year-old dual citizen of Ukraine and Russia, was a principal of Your Mule Cashout, or “YMCO,” which from 2007 until 2014 set up a sophisticated network of mules in the U.S., as well as Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Australia. YMCO recruited people using websites for fake companies that advertised job opportunities.    

Applicants went through a seemingly legitimate hiring process that involved an employment test, contract and company policy review. They were required to upload their bank details into a fictitious company website and were told their job was to receive money into their accounts and then transfer it to legitimate company accounts overseas.  

Under Korniev’s watch, YMCO laundered at least $10 million for hackers who broke into 750 U.S. bank accounts using malware. The funds were mostly wired to Eastern Europe through Western Union or MoneyGram where “Cash-out Contractors” received them and, for a cut, delivered them back to YMCO.

Korniev was arrested in North Carolina last December nearly nine years after he was indicted by a grand jury alongside Serghei Ivanovich Tomuz, a Moldovan national who allegedly ran the cash-out team in his home country and laundered money for YMCO. 

Tomuz’s case was terminated in U.S. federal court this May. He was reportedly arrested at a Romanian border crossing in May 2022 and fought extradition to the U.S. 

Four Ukrainians connected to YMCO previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and were sentenced in 2018 to between 37 months and 63 months in prison.

Korniev faces a minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of 50 years after pleading guilty to money laundering charges, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, conspiracy to commit access device theft and aggravated identity theft.