LOS ANGELES—The U.S. Department of Justice in November announced the arrest of five web and technology executives for their role in an international criminal fraud network that was busted by law enforcement in Germany and across Europe. The individuals arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in California included Medhat Mourid, Guy Mizrachi, Ardeshir Akhavan, Tunde Benak, and Andrew Garroni—all executives with ties to the online adult and dating industries. The U.S. indicated they will be extradited to Germany.
They were charged, along with other individuals, in a transnational crackdown on a scheme that defrauded thousands in countries around the world.
Europol says these five individuals, characterized as "international fugitives," defrauded over €300 million (over $350 million), which propped up a "shadow financial system in Germany" that was ultimately integrated into unlawful conduct across many countries. Operational bases for the network were in Cyprus and the U.K.
Law enforcement in countries like the United States, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, and Cyprus participated in what is called "Operation Chargeback." Evidence justifying the arrests stems from 2016 to 2021. The suspects allegedly used sensitive financial data, like stolen credit card data, to create about 19 million fake and fraudulent online subscriptions on websites that primarily offered online pornography, dating and hookup services, and streaming.
According to publicly available evidence and extradition documents reviewed by AVN, the websites were built to evade search engine indexing. The websites were only accessible via direct links and URLs, often from landing pages and redirects via organic web navigation. When the stolen credit card information was exploited, note the filings, the charges were kept under €50 with obscure transaction descriptions, making it hard for cardholders and institutions to identify the unauthorized transactions.
This made it challenging for payment processors in Germany as well. For example, Garroni allegedly served as the "chief executive officer" of the criminal enterprise, making key decisions about how to manage and circumvent payment providers and their built-in countermeasures to mitigate and detect red flags, such as fraudulent transactions. He maintained relations with the German and European payment service providers Concardis, B&S Cardservice, and now-insolvent Wirecard, according to court documents. Communications revealed that Garroni coordinated the fraudulent activities and managed the network's operations, including services from the same payment service providers, the complaint said.
In particular, Garroni was the subject of an investigation by Drop Site News and a consortium of other news outlets in Germany and throughout Europe. The so-called "Dirty Payments" investigation revealed that Garroni and his company, Eureka Multimedia Group, allegedly was extracting millions from consumers.
This information was disclosed based on thousands of pages of leaked documents from major European payment processing companies obtained by Der Spiegel and the European Investigative Collaboration consortium of outlets. Eureka owned and operated several hundred websites and merchants, most of which were sketchy niche dating sites. Similar documentation was discovered for Garroni's other companies through an additional investigation by the payment processor Worldline. Over the summer of 2025, Garroni was noted in Der Spiegel reporting for even more "dubious" online business activities—activities related to the immediate extradition filings.
AVN also noted that Garroni was a defendant in a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint filed against an unlawful enterprise on behalf of the state of Washington in 2006. Garroni was involved in a settlement with the FTC and Washington for prior internet scams, which appear to have been replicated in Eureka's current activity.
Garroni is also a filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on the cult-classic horror film Maniac (1980) and for establishing Axis International Pictures, which grew in prominence by producing direct-to-video and direct-to-consumer softcore erotic films, including Secret Games (1992) and Animal Instincts (1992).
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