Following a joint investigation with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa, the Middle District of Florida has indicted four men for bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering amounting to $128M.
These four men shall face prison time for about 50 years for their frauds.
Daniel Liburdi, 35, of Miami, Florida; Joseph Scotto, 44, of Bay Shore, New York; Gregory Walker, 43, of Ontario, Canada; and Frank Carbone III, 35, of Orlando, Florida, are facing about 50 years in federal prison.
The maximum penalty for each bank fraud and conspiracy to do so is 30 years of federal prison. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit money laundering is 20 years in federal prison. Both Daniel Liburdi and Frank Carbone III also face bank fraud charges.
As per the indictment United states is going to forfeit all the defendants three residences in Miami Beach, and also one in the U.S. Virgin Islands as they are supposedly traced to the proceeds of the fraud. Along with forfeiting the residences, the government is also seeking an order to forfeit amounts totalling to $128,144,908.66.
As per the indictment, all the four defendants; Liburdi, Scotto, Walker, and Carbone allegedly conspired to commit this bank fraud by providing fraudulent applications to U.S. financial institutions to secure merchant processing accounts. These applications contained private personal information of ignorant individuals, and were obtained by the fraudsters by deceit. The merchant accounts which were obtained fraudulently were then used by these men to accept credit and debit cards to further an e-commerce enterprise that was using very unethical and risky sales techniques. The fraudsters used the private information of innocent and ignorant individuals to protect themselves from any personal liability and risk attached to the business model they used to harm those individuals and also to the financial institutions that rely on honest and complete disclosures of ownership when they provide merchant services. Because of these fraudulent activities, the four fraudsters were able to get criminal proceeds processed through these merchant accounts exceeding $128M.
The indictment alleges that the four defendants not only committed bank fraud but they also conspired to launder criminal proceeds. To pay for services in promotion of the scheme like advertising, the defendants allegedly used proceeds of the bank fraud activity. Also as per the indictment the defendant shared in the proceeds of bank fraud through these transactions. This was done by moving all the criminal proceeds in and around conspirator-controlled bank accounts.
An indictment is just a formal charge that states the number of violations of federal criminal law committed by the defendant. Also each and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
A joint investigation was carried out for this case by HSI Tampa and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Tampa. Added support was provided by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, HSI Miami and HSI New York, as well as IRS-CI Miami and New York. The case shall be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam J. Duso.
The area of responsibility for HSI Tamp includes 10 geographically strategic offices, and it covers more than 51,600 square miles of the total 65,757 square miles in the state of Florida. The HSI Tamp region has more than 14.2M people and includes 58 of the 67 counties. This region also includes five of the 10 largest cities in Florida, 15 primary commercial service airports, and 11 seaports.
IDMERIT UK’s ID and document verification solutions
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa’s effort to fight bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering highlights the critical importance of stringent AML compliance. IDMERIT UK helps businesses to mitigate financial risks and ensure regulatory compliance with comprehensive Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions. Our AML solutions use advanced technologies to detect and prevent financial crimes, including money laundering and terrorist financing.
Maintaining a transparent and secure financial environment is paramount, and with the right verification solutions provided by IDMERIT UK one can effectively verify and confirm the identity of the customers.
