MOSCOW, December 5 - RAPSI. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California has sentenced Russian citizen Sergei Bugayev to two and a half years in prison for fraud, the court spokesperson told RAPSI on Wednesday.

Prosecutors insisted on this term, having sent their conclusions to the court in the run-up to the sentence announcement.

RAPSI has yet to obtain comments from Bugayev.

The United States claims that Bugayev was involved in large-scale fraud, stealing $5 million from over 100 bank accounts. The funds were allegedly transferred to bank accounts in Europe opened using fake IDs, and then were subsequently withdrawn.

The fraud victims were individuals who transferred funds to buy cars, motorcycles and boats after reading fake announcements on the Internet on popular sites such as eBay, Craigslist and YahooAuto.

Apart from Bugayev, five other people were involved in the case, including Russians Yulia Mishina-Heffron and Marina Talashkova.

Talashkova, 24, was arrested in mid-January at the United States request. In April, a Toronto court extended her detention on charges of complicity in fraud, while the United States asked for her extradition.

The case materials are being held in a Nevada court and the U.S. authorities have filed an extradition request.

Talashkova currently remains behind bars. Earlier, her lawyer Tyler Hodgson told RAPSI that he planned to file a motion to have her released on bail until her extradition request is heard.

According to Kiykov, the motion was considered, but the court set extremely tough requirements and the defense was not able to meet bail.

Mishina-Heffron pleaded guilty and made a deal with investigators. She faces six years in prison. Her sentence will be announced in December.