Miami Crew Charged For Running Crypto Fraud Scheme
- The DoJ charged three Miami residents—Esteban Cabrera Da Corte, Luis Hernandez Gonzalez, and Asdrubal Ramirez Meza—for allegedly defrauding banks and a crypto platform.
- The three individuals, who will be presented in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, purchased digital assets using false identities.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) seems to be making streaks of attacks on crypto-related scams. Recently, the DoJ charged three Miami residents—Esteban Cabrera Da Corte, Luis Hernandez Gonzalez, and Asdrubal Ramirez Meza—for allegedly defrauding banks and a crypto platform to steal more than $4 million.
According to the recent announcement, the three individuals, who will be presented in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, purchased digital assets using false identities. After that, they lied to financial institutions that the transactions were not authorized, asking for a refund in order to earn more. They deceived the banks into reversing those transactions and redepositing the funds into the defendants-controlled bank accounts. The trio later withdrew the money from the bank accounts. The trio could spend up to 30 years in federal prison for their crime.
The U.S. attorney explained that the trio deceived “U.S. banks into believing that they themselves were the victims of someone else’s fraud” while they were using stolen identities.
“Thanks to the efforts of [Homeland Security Investigations’] El Dorado Task Force, their duplicity has been uncovered, and they now face serious federal charges,”
He added.
Notably, the HSI identified the violations and organized the arrest. It vowed to continue to work with its partners in the Southern District of New York towards combating any future forms of crypto fraud.
“Cabrera, Hernandez, and Ramirez coordinated this large-scale operation to launder millions of dollars through cryptocurrency exchanges and U.S. banks, ultimately exploiting both the virtual currency market and the U.S. financial system,”
HSI Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Ricky J. Patel stated.
The Defendants created accounts with the crypto exchange to carry out this fraud scheme, frequently using images of fake U.S. passports, fake drivers’ licenses, and stolen personal information. The bank accounts that the defendants owned were connected to the cryptocurrency exchange accounts. The Defendants often made a series of cash deposits using ATMs into the associated bank accounts to buy cryptocurrencies. Then, the defendants and their accomplices swiftly transferred those tokens to other wallets they controlled that weren’t connected to the crypto exchange. Following the transfer of cryptocurrency, the defendants unlawfully claimed that the crypto purchases were unauthorized via phone calls to U.S. banks, leading the banks to undo the transactions.
All three Miami-based fraudsters are charged with “conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison.”
Moreover, the announcement reveals that Cabrera is also charged with engaging in a financial transaction using assets obtained through wire fraud and bank fraud, a crime punishable by up to ten years in prison.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
