A Canadian couple is asking federal court in White Plains to approve a subpoena for Mastercard International records that could identify an individual who is harassing them.
Stefan Ionescu-Balaceanu and Ashley Wotten, of Whitby, Ontario, filed an application to conduct discovery in the United States, on Sept. 22, to identify who sent them threatening text messages.
They argue that Mastercard, the Purchase-based credit card payments network, has information that would enable them to “unmask the perpetrator(s) of the harassing and threatening text messages inflicted” on them.
Wotten received text messages from Las Vegas area codes in July 2024 that included a photograph and a video purportedly depicting her husband with another individual, according to the application.
Though the couple is vague about the exact nature of the photograph and video, they claim that the messages have defamed Ionescu-Balaceanu, caused significant harm to his personal life, inflicted severe emotional distress, and could escalate to a ransom demand.
Ionescu-Balaceanu believes the messages have something to do with a former business partner who owes him $10.7 million, according to an affidavit he submitted last year in Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
But he has been unable to connect the messages to any specific person.
Investigators he hired to trace the phone numbers identified a San Diego company that sells temporary, disposable “burner” phone numbers that conceal the caller’s identity. An investigator obtained documents that identified a Las Vegas plumbing company as the buyer, according to court records, but the billing information appears to be fictitious.
The Canadian couple believes that the credit card used to buy the burner numbers was issued by a bank that participates in Mastercard’s network. Therefore, Mastercard could identify the name and address of the card holder.
They are asking federal court to allow them to serve Mastercard with a subpoena to reveal the card holder.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel found the request unclear, according to a Sept. 25 court order, and she directed the Canadians to explain, for instance, how and where they would use the information they seek from Mastercard.
