The check-cashing industry has been notorious for its usurious rates. The stores often prey on low-income patrons or patrons who are either unfamiliar or afraid to use conventional banking venues. However, usury alone is nothing “new,” but Evelio Suarez, who owns a chain of check-cashing locations in the Hialeah, Florida area, has added money laundering to his crimes.
Suarez was just sentenced to 156 months in prison for laundering more than $100 million. After he completes his 13-year sentence, he undergoes three years of supervised release and, of course, he must return approximately $149 million in cash.
Quite a Laundry
Suarez, with his “Suarez Stores” check-cashing business, was found guilty of laundering healthcare, mortgage and tax theft refund checks given him by people just as crooked as he was.
The time span in which the government set up surveillance of Suarez’ activities extended from 2013 to 2015. Suarez’ operation cashed fraudulent checks, from scam Medicare and scam tax refunds as high as $200,000 and $150,000 respectively. He tried (but was unsuccessful) in convincing prosecutors that he was duped. It was proven that he knew the checks were the result of government fraud, and that his operation accepted fake identification to support the fraudulent checks.
Going back around to usury, his operation charged the gangsters a “tax” on top of the usual fee for taking on the potential risk. According to the Department of Justice:
“Suarez also often withheld money from the checks and falsely claimed to the scammers that the money from their checks had been frozen by the banks or the authorities.”
In other words, Suarez was scamming the check-cashing scammers. When all was said and done, more than $100 million in fraudulent checks passed through the Suarez Stores in addition, of course, to the regular traffic that cashed checks at his locations.
Suarez knew what he was doing; he had those who were committing fraud over a barrel. He knew what they were doing, they “trusted” him to keep quiet and as a result he made a lot of cash. Where else could they go? He and his people were certainly sophisticated enough to spot the fake IDs but they looked the other way.
The Consequences
For a while, there was a ready-made opportunity of The Suarez Stores. Fraudulent refunds, backed by fake IDs, could be claimed by the operation as being legitimate. After all, they might claim, we did check for documentation. The hole in that defense, is that everyone was in on it together. When the house of cards began to fall, the fraudsters filing false tax claims and Medicare reimbursements turned on Suarez.
The need in all of this was cash – and lots of it. When the operation was in full swing, they were all making a lot of money. The U.S. Government represented a “Golden Goose,” to Suarez and the fraudsters who came to him with their money laundering “requests.”
In the mind of Suarez and his check-cashing outlets, there was undoubtedly a rationalization that “all they were doing was cashing checks.” Period. At worse, perhaps they expected a mild wrist slap if they were caught. They expected no dire consequences for their money laundering choices.
However, when sentences start coming down, everyone turns on everyone.
Suarez could have done the right thing from the start, but having no ethical sense and abiding by no required ethical code or training, precluded his operation from thinking ethically.
Unless he has a great team of lawyers, Suarez will leave prison as a broke, old man.
