A former US Army veteran, who became a soldier of fortune, has been charged with murder and fraud after being extradited from Ukraine by the FBI. The suspect, Craig Austin Lang, is accused of a crime spree that took place across three states in the US, where he allegedly murdered two people and falsified passports in multiple locations before fleeing to Europe.
The 34-year-old Lang fought as a mercenary in various countries such as Venezuela, Africa, and Ukraine, where he met another mercenary, Alex Jared Zwiefelhofer. The two men allegedly posted an online ad to sell weapons but ended up killing the couple that responded to it and stealing $3,000 meant for the purchase.
Zwiefelhofer, 27, told investigators he met Lang in Ukraine while both were fighting Russian separatists, and they planned to use the stolen money to travel to Venezuela to fight against the country’s regime. Zwiefelhofer was convicted by a federal jury in Florida in March and is due for sentencing on August 6th.
In September 2018, Lang and another cohort allegedly cut a deal with two others in North Carolina to use their identities to falsify US passports. They paid off the individuals involved with $1,500 in cash and a suitcase containing multiple firearms and a military-grade smoke grenade, according to prosecutors.
In June 2019, Lang used a US passport to obtain a Mexican visa, which is a violation of the conditions for possessing a US passport. He was eventually detained in Ukraine and later extradited back to the United States under FBI guard after the European Court of Human Rights rejected his human rights appeal.
If convicted of the Florida murders, Lang faces life in prison. For the North Carolina and Arizona charges, he could face up to 35 years behind bars, according to the Justice Department. The case highlights the brazen criminal actions carried out by these former mercenaries, as well as the efforts of dedicated law enforcement personnel and prosecutors in both the United States and abroad.
