A Florida man laundered more than $100 million in proceeds, including those from healthcare and identity theft tax refund fraud
A Florida check casher has admitted to laundering mortgage fraud proceeds, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Evelio Suarez pled guilty before US District Judge Robert Scola Jr. to one count of money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
From 2013 through 2015, Suarez controlled a number of check-cashing stores and caused the cashing of checks he knew had been obtained from fraudulent activity. On occasion, he knowingly accepted fake identification documents.
Suarez charged an additional fee on top of the standard fee charged by the check-cashing stores because he knew the funds came from illegal sources. He charged this as a personal fee that he took in cash from the stores. Additionally, Suarez often withheld money from the checks and falsely claimed to the scammers that the money from their checks had been frozen by the banks or the authorities.
Over the period, Suarez laundered more than $100 million in proceeds from mortgage, healthcare, and identity theft tax refund fraud.
