A Romanian citizen made his initial court appearance today following his extradition to face charges that he orchestrated an international hacking scheme targeting retailers, security companies, medical offices and individuals in the United States, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Mircea-Ilie Ispasoiu, 29, of Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania, is charged by federal indictment with two counts of wire fraud, two counts of unauthorized computer access to obtain information, two counts of unauthorized computer access that caused damage and three counts of aggravated identity theft. Ispasoiu was arrested Nov. 13, 2014, following an investigation led by the U.S. Secret Service and coordinated with Romanian law enforcement. The Court of Appeal of Bucharest granted extradition on Jan. 26, 2015, and Ispasoiu arrived in the United States on March 20, 2015. He appeared this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer in Newark federal court.