NEW YORK, January 4 – RAPSI. A US court sentenced on Friday a Russian national convicted of orchestrating a cyber-fraud scheme targeting US consumers and banks to three years in prison, RIA Novosti reported.

Vladimir Zdorovenin pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan last February to a count of conspiracy and a count of wire fraud. His sentencing has been postponed several times at the request of his defense attorney.

55-year-old Zdorovenin was arrested in Zurich in March 2011 and extradited to New York, where he was charged - along with his son, who is on a wanted list, - with nine counts relating to large-scale fraud. They were charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, computer fraud, aggravated identity theft, and securities fraud.

According to US authorities, between 2004 and 2005 the Russian father-son team “engaged in a series of crimes in Russia that victimized citizens of the United States through the use of stolen credit card information, multiple phony websites, and bank accounts in Russia and Latvia.”

Vladimir Zdorovenin pled guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. He denies the other crimes he is accused of.

U.S. federal prosecutors have requested a prison term of 51-63 months for Zdorovenin, while the defense attorney has asked for 24 months.