2021-06-09 DOJ SDNY press_release 118 KB 3,948 chars

Defendant Arrested In Texas For Multimillion-Dollar Wire Fraud And Money Laundering Scheme

Caption: United States v. Emily Deininger, et al.

summary

Guillermo Perez, 26, of Houston, Texas, was arrested for orchestrating a $2.2 million business email compromise and bank fraud scheme by impersonating legitimate entities to fraudulently obtain funds and laundering the proceeds, facing up to 50 years in prison on conspiracy charges.

paragraph

Guillermo Perez, 26, was arrested for conspiring to commit wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering by impersonating businesses to trick victims into wiring over $2.2 million into fraudulent bank accounts opened with false information between October 2018 and October 2019. He and his co-conspirators then laundered the proceeds through transactions designed to conceal the funds’ illegal origin. Perez faces two charges: conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud (max 30 years) and conspiracy to commit money laundering (max 20 years), with prosecution handled by the Southern District of New York and investigation led by HSI.

narrative

Guillermo Perez, a 26-year-old from Houston, Texas, was arrested on charges of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving business email compromise and fraudulent bank accounts. From October 2018 through October 2019, Perez and his co-conspirators impersonated legitimate businesses and individuals to deceive victims into transferring more than $2.2 million into bank accounts opened under false pretenses. These accounts were fraudulently established by providing federally insured banks with misleading information about the affiliations of the account holders. Once the funds were deposited, Perez and his associates moved the money through a series of transactions designed to conceal the source, ownership, and control of the illicit proceeds. He is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum of 20 years. The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and is being prosecuted by the Southern District of New York’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit. The charges are allegations, and Perez is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

Enriched metadata

Scheme: cyber-fraud (100%)
Court: Southern District of New York
Outcome: charged
Victim loss: $2,200,000

Classified cyber-fraud(confidence 100%). No EDGAR filing fingerprint (criminal/DOJ-side scheme). detection rule →

Extracted insights

Dollar amounts 1

$2.20M $2.2 million $1M–$10M

Entities 6

scheme_term conspiracy to commit money laundering
scheme_term conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud
person emily deininger
person guillermo perez
court in the united states district court for the southern district of texas
person tara la morte

Triples 9

Guillermo Perez was arrested for defrauding businesses and individuals of more than $2.2 million
Guillermo Perez will be presented in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Guillermo Perez participated in a scheme to defraud businesses by impersonating individuals and businesses
Guillermo Perez conspired to deceive federally insured banks into opening business bank accounts
Victims wired more than $2.2 million into the Fraudulent Bank Accounts
Guillermo Perez is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud
Guillermo Perez is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering
Emily Deininger is in charge of the prosecution
Tara La Morte is in charge of the prosecution

View original DOJ press releasejustice.gov

Extracted body text (3,948c)

Press Release Defendant Arrested In Texas For Multimillion-Dollar Wire Fraud And Money Laundering Scheme Wednesday, June 9, 2021 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Peter C. Fitzhugh, the Special Agent-in-Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) in New York, announced today that GUILLERMO PEREZ was arrested this morning for defrauding businesses and individuals of more than $2.2 million through business email compromise and bank fraud schemes. PEREZ will be presented tomorrow in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. According to the allegations contained in the Indictment[1] unsealed today: From at least in or about October 2018 through at least in or about October 2019, GUILLERMO PEREZ participated in a scheme to defraud businesses by impersonating individuals and businesses in the course of otherwise ordinary financial transactions, thereby fraudulently inducing counterparties to those transactions to transfer funds to bank accounts controlled by PEREZ and his co-conspirators (the “Business Email Compromise Scheme”). To facilitate this scheme, PEREZ conspired to deceive federally insured banks into opening business bank accounts (the “Fraudulent Bank Accounts”) by providing the banks with false and misleading information regarding PEREZ’s co-conspirators’ affiliations. In reliance on the foregoing false and misleading misrepresentations, the victims of the Business Email Compromise Scheme wired more than $2.2 million into the Fraudulent Bank Accounts. PEREZ and his co-conspirators, knowing the money represented fraud proceeds, transferred those fraud proceeds out of the Fraudulent Bank Accounts in transactions designed to conceal and disguise their source, ownership, and control. * * * GUILLERMO PEREZ, 26, of Houston, Texas, is charged with (1) conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and (2) conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in these cases are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge. Ms. Strauss praised the investigative work of HSI. The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Emily Deininger and Tara La Morte are in charge of the prosecution. The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. [1]Links to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment and the description of the Indictment set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation. Contact James Margolin, Nicholas Biase (212) 637-2600 Updated June 9, 2021 Topic Financial Fraud Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 21-137

OCR text (3,948c · plain-text · 99% conf)