Lithuanian Man Pleads Guilty to Scamming Facebook, Google Out of $100 Million

Evaldas Rimasauskas is probably going to prison for a long, log time. The 50-year-old Lithuania native admitted today that he scammed Facebook and Google out of over $100 million.

Rimasauskas briefly pulled one over on the tech giants by posing as Taiwanese laptop manufacturer Quanta Computer. He incorporated a business in that name in Lithuania and then reached out to Facebook for payments on services that were never actually rendered. He pulled $23 million from Google in 2013 and $98 million from Facebook in 2015 before being caught.

“As Evaldas Rimasauskas admitted today, he devised a blatant scheme to fleece U.S. companies out of $100 million, and then siphoned those funds to bank accounts around the globe,” said Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, according to CNET. “Rimasauskas thought he could hide behind a computer screen halfway across the world while he conducted his fraudulent scheme, but as he has learned, the arms of American justice are long, and he now faces significant time in a U.S. prison.”

While prosecutors didn’t accuse Rimasauskas of directly messaging the companies, they alleged that he created the company and the bank accounts for the scam. Rimasauskas was extradited in August of 2017 and pled guilty to one count of wire fraud today. He could face as much as 30 years in prison. 

Google, for their part, was happy with the result.

“We detected this fraud and promptly alerted the authorities,” a Google spokesperson told CNET. “We recouped the funds and we’re pleased this matter is resolved.”