Romanian National Sentenced for Fraud and Identity Theft

Gheorghe Nistor, age 44, a national of Romania, was sentenced on October 6, 2026, to 45 months' imprisonment for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

First Assistant United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

As part of his prior guilty plea, Nistor admitted that between approximately April and August 2024, he and his co-defendant, Radu-Lucien Grigoras, installed skimming devices and pinhole cameras on ATMs belonging to financial institutions, including in Onondaga County, Cayuga County, and in other states. The skimming devices surreptitiously recorded the debit card information of cards inserted in the ATM by unsuspecting customers, and the pinhole camera recorded the customer entering the card's PIN. Nistor further admitted that the stolen card information was encoded onto the magnetic strips of other cards, which he used in combination with the stolen PINs to make cash withdrawals from ATMs. Nistor admitted that he and Grigoras fraudulently withdrew approximately $191,983 from the accounts of more than 190 accountholders.

First Assistant United States Attorney Sarcone stated: "I want to thank our state and local partners for their tireless work to protect our citizens-ATM skimming is not a victimless crime. It is calculated theft that preys on hardworking people and threatens the security of our entire financial system. This defendant chose to come into this country and steal from members of our community. Now, he's paying the price. If you come into our community to steal from our citizens, you will be caught, you will be prosecuted, and you will face the consequences. And for this Romanian National, he will face deportation proceedings after he completes his prison sentence."

"Mr. Nistor and his co-conspirator installed skimming devices on ATMs to steal from innocent Americans trying to access their hard-earned money," said Craig Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Albany Field Office. "His theft was callous and calculated, but not without consequence, as he's now heading to federal prison. The successful outcome of this investigation is due in large part to the tremendous amount of cooperation from law enforcement agencies across several states. The FBI stands ready to work with our law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and hold accountable any fraudster looking to steal from our citizens for their own financial gain."

Senior U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd also imposed a 3-year term of supervised release to follow Nistor's release from prison.

FBI is investigating the case with assistance from the New York State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Town of Cicero Police Department, City of Auburn Police Department, Leavenworth, Kansas Police Department, St. Charles City, Missouri Police Department, and the St. Peters, Missouri Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. McCrobie prosecuted the case.