Three Romanian nationals have been extradited to Brooklyn to face federal charges for their alleged roles in a Europe-based cyber fraud and money laundering ring that bilked buyers on eBay.com and other websites out of $2 million, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Cristea Mircea, Ion Pieptea, and Nicolae Simion have pleaded "not guilty" to the charges. The three were among a half-dozen people who were arrested in Romania in December as part of a U.S.-led international law enforcement operation that involved authorities in Romania, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Mircea, 30, Pieptea, 36, Simion, 37, and their accomplices "saturated" internet websites such as eBay.com, Cars.com, AutoTrader.com, and CycleTrader.com, with detailed advertisements for vehicles that did not exist, an indictment filed in federal court in Brooklyn states. It said: Once the purported sellers reached agreements with victim buyers, they allegedly emailed them bogus invoices
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