The US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging Charles O. Parks III, known as “CP3O,” with orchestrating an illegal “cryptojacking” operation. Parks is accused of defrauding two prominent cloud computing service providers of over $3.5 million in computing resources to mine cryptocurrency valued at nearly $1 million.

The scheme spanned from January 2021 to August 2021, during which Parks allegedly exploited various corporate aliases and email addresses to perpetrate the fraud.

According to the indictment, Parks used a web of false identities, including emails associated with entities named “MultiMillionaire LLC” and “CP3O LLC,” to establish numerous accounts with cloud providers. Through these fraudulent accounts, Parks gained access to substantial computing power and storage resources without making any payments. He purportedly utilized these unlawfully obtained resources to mine cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Monero (XMR).

Parks allegedly manipulated the cloud providers into granting him elevated privileges and benefits, including deferred billing accommodations, while deflecting any suspicions regarding his activities.

The indictment further alleges that Parks laundered the proceeds of his illicit crypto mining through various channels, including cryptocurrency exchanges, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces, online payment providers, and traditional bank accounts.

Parks allegedly used the ill-gotten gains to finance extravagant purchases, including a luxury Mercedes Benz, jewelry, and lavish travel expenses.

The cryptojacker is charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for wire fraud and money laundering charges, and up to 10 years for unlawful monetary transactions.