12/24/2020

Miami Ringleader of Nationwide Counterfeit Check Cashing and Identity Theft Scheme Sentenced to Over 10 Years in Federal Prison

US Attorney's Office Southern District of Florida

Miami, Fl. – A federal district judge has sentenced a Miami man convicted of running a nationwide counterfeit check cashing and identity theft scheme while illegally possessing a firearm to 129 months in prison.  The man, who used fraud proceeds to buy personal luxury items, including a 39-foot Midnight Express powerboat with triple 400 horsepower Mercury engines, also was ordered to pay over $1.8 million in restitution to victims.  

Defendant Carlos Miguel Rodriguez, Sr. a/k/a “Il Padrino,” 45, executed the fraud scheme with help from his son, daughter, and others, who are also convicted defendants in this case.  The swindle operated as follows: Rodriguez, Sr. and his daughter would purchase names, dates of birth, addresses, and social security numbers of unwitting bank customers on the dark web.  With the stolen information, Rodriguez, Sr.’s son accessed the victim’s bank accounts to change contact information to a phone number that he and his father controlled.  He also downloaded checks signed by the account holders to use as templates for counterfeit checks.  Once the counterfeit checks were ready, Rodriguez, Sr. would give them to other co-conspirators, tasking them with finding people who would visit the banks to cash the checks.  Sometimes, Rodriguez, Sr. recruited the check cashers himself, using people living on the street or in homeless shelters.  The fraudsters had counterfeit checks cashed at banks in South Florida and in California, Texas, and Utah – states to which they traveled for that purpose.  Rodriguez, Sr. deposited the cash from the counterfeit checks into different bank accounts to disguise the source of the money.

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