14 DAY TRIAL // A total of four individuals from the Miami area have been charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Some of them have also been charged with substantive bank fraud, money laundering, and wire fraud.
The suspects – Eduardo Hernandez, Jr., 32, Alexander Orriols, 43, Jose Arias, 50, and Milena Hernandez, 30 – are accused of taking part in a $1.5 million (€1.1 million) bank fraud scheme involving straw buyers, in order to obtain loans with the aid of false information and documentation.
“To execute the scheme, the defendants allegedly recruited and induced individuals to act as straw buyers/loan applicants for boats from companies owned by or associated with the defendants. The straw buyers/loan applicants would then submit loan applications to financial institutions,” the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida noted.
“The applications contained false financial information and documentation regarding purported down payments and deposits allegedly made by the straw buyers/loan applicants to the defendants’ boat companies.”
The defendants allegedly paid the straw buyers for their services. They also paid them to make sure they could make some of the monthly payments on the loans to keep the scheme running.