Cuban National Pleads Guilty to $800K Elderly Fraud

MIAMI – In a stunning turn of events, Michel Duarte Suarez, 50, a Cuban national, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a multi-million dollar heist. Suarez, from his Panamanian residence, masterminded the theft of over $800,000 from an elderly victim’s bank account. The con artist then funneled the proceeds through a laundering operation in South Florida.

Indicted in September 2023, Suarez was arrested in Panama City in January 2025 and transported to face charges in the United States. Court documents reveal that in March 2022, Suarez detailed his scheme to a confidential informant. He forged checks in the name of an 82-year-old victim and directed them to be cashed in South Florida. The proceeds were then wired back to Suarez’s Miami-based business, Online Electronics.

Over a four-month period, Suarez and his co-conspirators siphoned approximately $803,000 from the victim’s account. Sentencing for Suarez is scheduled for September 29, 2025, in Miami. He faces up to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud, along with an additional two years for aggravated identity theft.

U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne, Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the FBI Miami Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Jason Scalzo of the FDIC-OIG Electronic Crimes Unit, and Special Agent in Charge Rafael Barros of the US Secret Service Miami Field Office announced the charges against Suarez. Assistant United States Attorney Alexander Thor Pogozelski is handling the prosecution, while Assistant United States Attorney Marx Calderon manages asset forfeiture proceedings.

For more information on this case, visit the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls, or the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 23-CR-20359-WILLIAMS.

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