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Panevėžys Regional Court has handed down a guilty verdict in a criminal case where Aurimas Daučianskas, a resident of Kaunas district, was found guilty of large-scale fraud, forgery of documents, and money laundering (laundering of criminally acquired funds). Considering that the defendant committed the offenses systematically, the court imposed a final consolidated sentence of four years’ imprisonment, ordered him to fully indemnify the victims for the damages incurred, and ordered the confiscation of vehicles registered in the names of his close relatives.

According to the case files, between July 2022 and early 2023, A. Daučianskas fraudulently obtained funds from three individuals. In one instance, the defendant misled the victim into believing he was selling a tractor from Finland, swindling a large sum of money that the victim transferred to a bank account in Belgium. In another case, A. Daučianskas forged a VAT invoice and defrauded another man of more than EUR 9,000 for non-existent cars. From the third victim, the defendant fraudulently obtained EUR 6,500 in cash.

A. Daučianskas spent the illicit proceeds promptly on personal needs and debt payments, using a portion of the funds – EUR 10,765 – to purchase vehicles. To conceal these assets from creditors and court bailiffs, he registered the vehicles under his wife’s and father’s names.

The court established that the defendant’s actions in registering the vehicles under third-party names constituted an intentional act of money laundering aimed at concealing the acquired assets.

However, the court disagreed with the prosecution's argument that the defendant's other dealings with the fraudulently obtained money – such as paying for goods and services or withdrawing cash from ATMs – should be classified as money laundering.

Nevertheless, having assessed the scale of the crimes, the defendant's behavior, and his background, the court concluded that A. Daučianskas must serve an actual custodial sentence.

When sentencing, A. Daučianskas’s full admission of guilt was recognized as a mitigating circumstance, as a result of which his final sentence was reduced by one-third in accordance with summary procedure rules. However, the court officially recognized him as a repeat offender (recidivist), as he had previous convictions for similar property crimes, committed the new offenses during a probation period (suspended sentence period), and had even absconded from justice.

By court order, civil claims for pecuniary damages were awarded to the victims: EUR 79,000 to the tractor buyer, EUR 9,600 to the victim who attempted to purchase the cars, and EUR 6,556 to the third victim.

Furthermore, a Citroën C4 Picasso and a Renault commercial vehicle, which were the proceeds of the criminal activity, were confiscated to the state. The court fully rejected witness testimony claiming the vehicles were purchased with the defendant’s father’s personal funds, as bank statements conclusively proved that the convicted individual paid for them via bank transfer directly using the fraudulently acquired funds.

The judgment of Panevėžys Regional Court is subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal of Lithuania within 20 days.

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