Financial Fraud: Manuel Ponce Vazquez Guilty to Defrauding Charities and Law Firms

<h2>Quincy Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Charities and Law Firms<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>BOSTON – A Quincy man pleaded guilty today in U&period;S&period; District Court in Boston to using counterfeit cashier’s checks to defraud victims&comma; including charities and law firms&comma; of at least &dollar;1 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Manuel Ponce Vazquez&comma; 59&comma; pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with one count of mail fraud&period;  Ponce Vazquez was charged and arrested in April 2016&period;  U&period;S&period; District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for Nov&period; 4&comma; 2016&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Beginning around August 2013&comma; Ponce Vazquez and his co-conspirators defrauded law firms and other victims by sending them counterfeit cashier’s checks&comma; then convincing them to forward a portion of the checks’ supposed value to bank accounts Ponce Vazquez opened&comma; generally using an alias&period;  Once the checks were discovered to be fraudulent&comma; the victims’ bank accounts were debited&comma; and the victims were left with thousands of dollars in losses&comma; having unwittingly forwarded their own money to Ponce Vazquez&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On several occasions&comma; Ponce Vazquez and his co-conspirators targeted charities and other non-profits&period;  Posing as a philanthropist&comma; a conspirator would tell a charity that he wished to make a large donation of a specified amount&period;  Soon after&comma; the charity would receive a cashier’s check&comma; ostensibly from the supposed donor&comma; but in excess of the expected amount&period;  The conspirator would explain that the excess money had been sent by mistake and ask for it to be returned&comma; claiming in several instances that it was needed urgently to help a child suffering from an acute illness who required surgery within the week&period;  Only after the charity had sent Ponce Vazquez thousands of dollars would it learn that the cashier’s check was a fake&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More frequently&comma; the targets of Ponce Vazquez’s scam were law firms who believed they were being hired to help collect a debt&period;  Before the firms took any action to collect the supposed debt&comma; they received counterfeit cashier’s checks&comma; ostensibly from the debtors&comma; fully repaying the debt&period;  At the direction of one of Ponce Vazquez’s co-conspirators&comma; the firms forwarded the majority of the checks’ purported value to a bank account that Ponce Vazquez controlled&comma; unwittingly paying Ponce Vazquez using the firms’ own money&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison&comma; three years of supervised release&comma; a fine of &dollar;250&comma;000 or twice the gross gain or loss&comma; whichever is greater&comma; and restitution&period;  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties&period;  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U&period;S&period; Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>United States Attorney Carmen M&period; Ortiz and Harold H&period; Shaw&comma; Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation&comma; Boston Field Division&comma; made the announcement today&period;  Assistance was also provided by Braintree Police Department and the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office&period; This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Brian A&period; Pérez-Daple of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Defrauding Charities and Law FirmsFinancial Fraud