Four men in Florida have been accused of trying to cash a U.S. Treasury check worth a staggering $27 million, according to police.
The men were arrested at a restaurant in South Florida on November 10, WSBTV reports.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Carlos Manuel Villaneuva, 37, of Hialeah, Florida; Eric Renard Bedford, 44, of Houston; Jorge Cruz Garcia, 30, of Katy, Texas; and John Ryan Boxie, 43, of Houston were all arrested and will each face one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and one count of theft of government property.
The U.S. Treasury check they attempted to cash was a tax refund check totaling $27,910,676.69, intended for a business in Richmond, Virginia.
According to a criminal complaint, a source told federal agents that Villanueva had access to the check. Villanueva allegedly began discussing with a man called “Banker,” whom he thought could help him cash the check. However, the Banker was actually an undercover agent with the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s office.
Villanueva allegedly presented the undercover agent with photos and video of the check and told the man that his accomplices in Florida were holding it for him. He allegedly told the agent that he needed help cashing the check because the company he was working for had been closed and the check was due to expire on November 12.
The complaint says that Villanueva allegedly told the agents he’d get a $5.6 million cut of the check if he helped get it cashed. He also allegedly claimed that the other men involved in the scheme had access to other checks for large sums of money and could get more.
The parties agreed to meet in Broward County to hand over the check. The sit-down happened on November 10 at an unnamed restaurant in Pembrooke Pines.
Once the envelope containing the check was handed off to the “banker,” agents from U.S. Postal Inspections, who were lying in wait, emerged to arrest the men involved in the alleged scheme.
It’s unclear if the company that was owed the check ever reported it missing or filed for a replacement.
All four men involved in the alleged plot made their initial court appearances on November 12 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
A judge at that hearing set Garcia, Bedord, and Boxie’s bond at $100,000 and placed a Nebbia hold on them. Nebbia holds force defendants to prove that the money they use to pay their bonds is from non-criminal sources.
Villanueva was given a $50,000 bond, which is also subject to a Nebbia hold.
