Federal prosecutors in Dallas have charged six people, including an Allen, Texas, resident, with hacking into airline consumers’ online accounts to steal millions of frequent flier miles.
The indictment of the six was announced Monday by Erin Nealy Cox, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
The defendants, charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, are:
- Terran Oliver, 51, of Allen
- Wojciech Borkowski, 43, of Zgierz, Poland
- Semaj Lee, 55, of Oklahoma City
- Derrick Booker, 49, of Spencer, Oklahoma
- Yusuf Siddique, 30, of Folsom, California-
- Stanley Benton, 42, of Los Angeles.
Borkowski, identified by authorities as the lead defendant, was arrested in Poland in May, later extradited to the United States, then flown to Dallas over the weekend. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver on Monday.
The indictment says Borkowski hacked into consumers’ airline miles accounts, then used information from those accounts to book flights for other passengers through the other five defendants: Oliver, Lee, Booker, Siddique, and Benton.
Passengers would send their itineraries and personal information, including their dates of birth, to one of the five bookers, who would then send that information, along with a money order, to Borkowski, according to the indictment. He would then book the passengers’ flights with the fraudulently obtained miles – and pocket what would have been the cost of their tickets.
According to court records, Borkowski is represented by Paul Lund of Burleson Pate & Gibson. His trial is set for Feb. 22 before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle.
Siddique is represented by Yasin M. Almadani of La Miranda, Calif., and Camille M. Knight, also of Burleson Pate & Gibson.
Oliver, according to court records, is represented by Rachel Maureen Taft of the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Dallas.
Lee is represented by Barbara Lorraine Moore of the BMoore Law Group in Temple, Texas.
Booker is represented by Michael S. Johnson of Lopez & Johnson in Oklahoma City and Saul G. Olivarez of the Olivarez Law Firm in Dallas.
Benton is represented by Alex R. Kessel of Encino, Calif., and Daniel Gividen of Gividen Law in Dallas.
An indictment is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, if convicted, the defendants could each face 20 years in prison.
The records indicate that at least some defendants intend to plead guilty and, presumably, cooperate with prosecutors in the case.
The investigation into the alleged fraud conspiracy was conducted by the Dallas office of the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sid Mody is prosecuting the case.