28 February – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and William T. Sims, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, Miami Division, announced the arrest today of defendant, Luis R. Cañas on charges of wire fraud stemming from a scheme to defraud E*TRADE. The Indictment charges that Cañas opened multiple E*TRADE accounts in his own and his mother’s and father’s names, and that E*TRADE required that Cañas deposit funds in the accounts in order to buy and sell securities.
The Indictment states that Cañas would cause checks payable to E*TRADE to be drawn on a local Miami bank account for which he was the only signatory, knowing that there were insufficient funds in the bank account to cover the checks. The Indictment also charges that Cañas would then cause the insufficient funds checks to be sent to E*TRADE for the purpose of funding E*TRADE accounts. The Indictment further charges that he then bought and sold securities using E*TRADE accounts that he had funded.
The defendant faces a maximum term of up to twenty (20) years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Hugo Black III.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
