A man who ran bank fraud rings in Maryland and Colorado was recently arrested in Texas, according to a recent news report from The Republic. Colorado authorities stated that the suspect was arrested in Houston on June 30 and was being held in a federal detention center. The suspect will be returned to Colorado to face charges.
According to investigators, the fraud ring used El Salvador passports to open bank accounts with small deposits throughout metro Denver. Fraudulent checks were then allegedly deposited to inflate the account balances. The suspect allegedly accessed the money via debit cards or ATMs before the fraudulent checks bounced. The fraud ring cost the banks involved more than $27,000. Authorities believe other suspects who may have been involved in the ring have returned to El Salvador.
The bank fraud ring in this case did what is known as check kiting. Check kiting involves opening a bank account at one bank with a small deposit, then opening a second bank account at another bank with a check drawn on the first bank. The account holder accesses the available funds represented by the second check and deposits it in the first bank before it clears, which could take a few days. In the case of this suspect, he used the “float time” between check deposit and check clearance to access available funds before the checks were applied to the accounts–and eventually bounced.
When he returns to Colorado, he faces fines of up to $30,000 and a jail term of up to 10 years, depending on whether he will be convicted of a felony–which is highly likely in this case–or a misdemeanor. His Colorado criminal defense attorney will advise him of the state laws regarding check fraud, as well as his rights as a defendant. The charges he faces are serious, and reducing those charges will prove to be a challenge for a Colorado criminal defense attorney. In any event, his attorney will prepare the best possible defense and prepare him for every possible outcome.
