A 69-year-old Florida man has pleaded guilty to stealing money from thousands of people and businesses by using fraudulent checks to make unauthorized withdrawals from their bank accounts.
Eri Guzman Ortiz, formerly of Miami-Dade County, admitted to one count of wire fraud after investigators say he created and deposited roughly $14 million in bogus checks through accounts belonging to sham companies.
According to court documents, Ortiz received lists from a client in Canada containing thousands of individuals and businesses that were supposedly customers of the fake companies.
The businesses and individuals had never made the purchases described on the lists and had not agreed to have money withdrawn from their accounts.
Prosecutors say Ortiz nevertheless used the information to generate fraudulent checks and deposit them into bank accounts controlled by the sham companies. The transactions were structured to make the unauthorized withdrawals appear legitimate.
Says U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida,
“Eri Guzman Ortiz used fraudulent checks totaling approximately $14 million to reach into the bank accounts of thousands of people and businesses who never authorized the transactions. He created sham companies and fabricated transactions to make systematic theft look legitimate. This guilty plea reflects our commitment, alongside the Fraud Section, USPIS, and FDIC-OIG, to protect the integrity of our financial system and hold sophisticated fraudsters accountable.”
Ortiz pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 5th.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. A federal judge will determine the final punishment after considering federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.