Albelk Reyes Serrata, Conspiracy to Steal Government Funds, Louisiana 2015

BATON ROUGE, LA – In a wide-ranging investigation into multi-million dollar fraud scheme involving U.S. Treasury checks, a second defendant has been convicted and another charged. The scheme involved cashing nearly $4 million in fraudulently-obtained U.S. Treasury checks during 2012 and 2013.

Albelk Reyes Serrata, 26, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, has pled guilty to conspiracy to steal government funds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. Serrata acknowledged in Court in connection with his guilty plea before Chief U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson yesterday that he participated in a scheme to fraudulently obtain United States Treasury checks and have them cashed by an associate who operated a money service business on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge.

From April 2012 through April 2013, Serrata and his co-conspirators fraudulently obtained and cashed approximately 370 Treasury checks, having a total face value of approximately $2.2 million.

As a result of his role in the scheme, Serrata faces significant incarceration, fines, restitution, and supervised release following imprisonment.

In another case, Carlos L. Linares, 55, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been charged by a federal grand jury with failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, in violation of Title 31, United States Code, Sections 5318 and 5322.

The Indictment was returned by the grand jury on May 20, 2015 and unsealed in Court yesterday. According to the Indictment, Linares owned, operated, and managed a separate business, also on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge, named Latinos Supermarket, LLC.

The Indictment alleges that, from March 2012 through May 2013, Linares took in and deposited more than 270 Treasury checks, totaling $1.6 million, the vast majority of which were addressed to individuals with out-of-state addresses, and most of which had been obtained through fraud.

U.S. Attorney Walt Green stated: ‘My office takes these types of offenses very seriously. These crimes put millions of taxpayer dollars at stake, make it more difficult for taxpayers to properly file their own taxes, and threaten the public’s confidence in the Internal Revenue Service.’

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