May.15, 2010, 6:54 a.m. EST

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) - Georgi Boychev Georgiev, 43, a resident of Bulgaria, pleaded guilty on Friday before U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman in the District of Columbia for his role in laundering money for a transnational criminal group based in Eastern Europe, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

According to court documents, in less than one year, the criminal conspiracy netted more than $1.4 million from U.S. victims.

Georgiev was extradited from Poland to the United States in December 2009. Georgiev faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison at sentencing, scheduled for July 23, 2010.

According to court documents, Georgiev participated in a scheme that operated from July 2005 through November 2006, and involved the posting of fraudulent advertisements on eBay and other websites offering expensive vehicles and boats for sale that the conspirators did not possess.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI – Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation (HNBI) Organized Crime Task Force located in Budapest, Hungary (Budapest Task Force).

The Budapest Task Force was established by the FBI in April 2000 to address the increasing threat of Eurasian organized crime groups to the United States.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Lisa Page of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance on this case.