Workers comp fraudster claims authorities made him do it
Reprints
A Miami man is facing charges for being the ringleader in a $500 million check-cashing fraud scheme, but his defense says he was working for authorities as an “informant,” according to the St. Augustine Record.
Evelio Suarez, already convicted for workers compensation fraud in 2012, is accused of running several stores that cashed fraudulent checks in 2013-14, according to the article. He was arrested in late June and is fighting charges of conspiring to commit money laundering, bribing a bank employee and tampering with a grand jury witness, according to the article.
Facing arraignment on Thursday, Mr. Suarez’s attorney told a judge last month that the man received a “probationary sentence and had begun working as an informant for a state task force targeting illegal check-cashing” after the 2012 conviction, according to the article.
“It sounds to me like you were two-timing them,” the skeptical judge told Mr. Suarez in court, according to the article documenting the saga. “You’ve been engaged in fraud at an extraordinary level.”
All doubts aside, Miami-Dade County prosecutor told the judge that the defendant “was not authorized” by anyone in law enforcement to commit “massive fraud” as he did, according to the article.
Read Next
-
Lawsuit puts a spin on shoplifting ordeals
Here’s something we don’t hear every day: shoplifters are now suing the stores they allegedly swiped goods from.
