Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; William T. Sims, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service; and Christina Pharo, United States Marshal for the Southern District of Florida, announced today the sentencing of Michael James Klopf, a/k/a Michael James, on February 5, 2004. Klopf, who was convicted after a jury trial on October 22, 2003, was sentenced to 150 months’ imprisonment for possession of fraudulent identification documents and 120 months’ imprisonment for unauthorized use of credit cards.
The Court imposed the sentences to run concurrent to each other but consecutive to the 8 year sentence Klopf is currently serving for probation and supervised release violations on other fraud convictions. Additionally, United States District Court Judge James I. Cohn ordered Klopf to pay restitution in the amount of $104,865.14 and a $200 special assessment.
The case involved the targeting of wealthy individuals, and the manufacturing of counterfeit Florida driver licenses in the victims’ names. Klopf would then obtain various rental mail boxes in the victims’ names and apply for credit cards in the victims’ names to be sent to the various rental mail boxes for subsequent use.
Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the United States Secret Service and the United States Marshals Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Lanigan.
