Two Belarusian alleged child pornography kingpins were extradited to the United States from France Wednesday night as part of a federal probe that has resulted in the arrest of 20 New Jersey residents.
Source NJ.com
Two Belarusian alleged child pornography kingpins were extradited to the United States from France Wednesday night as part of a federal probe that has resulted in the arrest of 20 New Jersey residents, including two Hudson County men, officials said.
Yahor Zalatarou, 26, and Alexei Buchnev, 27, both of Minsk, the president and marketing director of Belarus-based Regpay Co. LTD, U.S., landed at Newark Liberty International Airport, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said.
Zalatarou and Buchnev made initial appearances in federal court Thursday on charges that they ran an international Internet child pornography and money-laundering enterprise that catered to thousands of subscribers, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie.
Both men were arrested at a Paris hotel on July 30, 2003, after being persuaded to travel to France in a ruse arranged by federal agents, Drewniak said. They had been in custody in Paris since then and were fighting extradition until a French court ruled in favor of sending them here, Drewniak said.
Regpay was allegedly a global Internet pornography business that had thousands of paid memberships to dozens of Web sites featuring children, Drewniak said.
In addition to operating several of its own Web sites, the company earned millions of dollars by processing credit card fees for more than 50 other Web sites, according to the indictment.
Pedro Munoz, 25, of Bayonne, was arrested on Jan. 15, 2004, and Dr. Edelfonso Mendez, 39, of North Bergen, a physician with a family practice in Passaic, was arrested on Sept. 5, 2003, Drewniak said.
Mendez has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on March 7 and Munoz also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on March 21, Drewniak said. Both will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Joel Pisano, Drewniak said.
They are among about 20 New Jersey residents charged either with possession of child pornography or receipt of child pornography as part of the Regpay investigation, Drewniak said.
A conviction for possession of child pornography carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while a conviction for receipt of child pornography carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison with a five-year mandatory sentence, Drewniak said.
More than 1,000 subscribers to child pornography Web sites for which Regpay provided billing services were arrested in the United States and abroad, Drewniak said.
Those charged with downloading child pornography were snared by tracking fee payments with the help of Mastercard and Visa, said Michael J. Garcia, assistant secretary of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.
Zalatarou is charged with conspiracy to advertise child pornography, conspiracy to transport and ship by computer visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and financial crimes, Drewniak said.
Buchnev is charged with conspiracy to transport and ship by computer visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and financial crimes, Drewniak said.
Aliaksandr Boika, 29, of Minsk, was arrested in Spain on July 31, 2003, and extradited to New Jersey in June.
Boika, Regpay's technical administrator, is charged with conspiracy to advertise child pornography, conspiracy to transport and ship by computer visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and financial crimes, Drewniak said.
Associated Press contributed to this report .
Michaelangelo Conte can be reached at mconte@jjournal.com
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