Florida Man Pleads Guilty to $14M Fraudulent Check Scheme

A Florida man pleaded guilty today to wire fraud for using fraudulent, unauthorized checks to steal money from victims’ bank accounts. According to court documents, Eri Guzman Ortiz, 69, formerly of Miami-Dade County, created and deposited about $14 million in fraudulent checks into the bank accounts of sham companies in the United States. The fraudulent checks were used to steal victims’ money by transferring it from the victims’ bank accounts to the bank accounts of the sham companies without the victims’ authorization. Guzman Ortiz’s client in Canada sent him lists of thousands of people and businesses who had purportedly made purchases from sham companies and had purportedly agreed for their bank accounts to be debited by the sham companies. Guzman Ortiz used these lists to create fraudulent checks and deposit them into bank accounts for sham companies, knowing that these people and businesses had not made purchases from the sham companies and had not authorized debits from their bank accounts. Guzman Ortiz pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 5 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida; Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group; and Special Agent in Charge Vincent R. Zehme of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG) Chicago Region made the announcement. USPIS and FDIC-OIG are investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Daniel Zytnick and Anna Forgie of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Grosnoff for the Southern District of Florida is handling forfeiture.