SAN JOSE – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that a criminal information had been filed, charging Michael Largent with one count of wire fraud in connection with the Google Checkout program. These charges are the result of a referral by Google, Inc. (“Google”) and an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to the information, Google offers an online payment processing service, known as Google Checkout. Merchants use Google Checkout to process their orders and charge credit or debit cards of their buyers. When merchants establish a Google Checkout account, they are required to input a bank account to receive disbursements from processed transactions. Google deposits a challenge deposit between $0.01 and $1.00 into each account submitted in order to validate the account. Between November 2007 and March 2008, Mr. Largent, 21, is alleged to have opened thousands of Google Checkout accounts with fictitious and inaccurate information and received approximately $40,000 in challenge deposits. Mr. Largent is also alleged to have never engaged in any legitimate transactions with any of the Google Checkout accounts that he opened during this time.

The maximum statutory penalty for each count of wire fraud in violation 18 U.S.C. § 1343 is 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution if appropriate. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

An information contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Largent must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Hanley Chew is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Lauri Gomez.

This investigation and prosecution has been done in conjunction with, and is being coordinated with, the United States Secret Service and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. On May 22, 2008, a federal grand jury in Sacramento returned an indictment charging Mr. Largent with four counts of fraud and related activity in connection with computers, four counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud for alleged conduct similar to fraudulent conduct described above.