Fraudster arrested in Cyprus, sentenced in US

A former Seattle resident who pleaded guilty to defrauding the U.S. government, banks, businesses and Internet auction customers of $1.1 mln before fleeing to Greece was sentenced on Monday to 7 1/2 years in prison.

Evangelos Dimitrios Soukas, 27, was arrested at Larnaca airport in January and handed over to the U.S. authorities. He pleaded not guilty in March but changed his plea in July, admitting to 39 counts of conspiracy, identity theft and tax charges.

Since 1999, Soukas placed false advertisements for laptop computers on Internet auction sites. The winning bidder typically received nothing after paying, though one received a box filled with Styrofoam and rocks.

Soukas also opened bank accounts in other people’s names and filed fraudulent tax returns in his own name and others, prosecutors said. The IRS sent him checks totaling nearly $11,000.