MIAMI – Federal prosecutors in Miami announced Wednesday that a 50-year-old man admitted to stealing about $803,000 from an 82-year-old victim in four months.
Michel Duarte pleaded guilty to the charges related to the crime after he was arrested in January in Panama and indicted in 2023 after an investigation that involved a confidential informant, records show.
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Duarte was in Panama when he falsified the victim’s signature on her checks and used Online Electronics, his company registered out of Coral Gables, to launder the stolen funds, according to federal prosecutors.
Duarte pleaded guilty to two charges: Conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen M. Williams is set to sentence him on Sept. 19.