Nevada Man Charged in 20-Count Fraudulent Check Indictment

A Las Vegas grand jury on Wednesday (April 20) indicted Michael Zeto, 76, of Las Vegas on 20 counts of using fraudulent checks to steal money from victims’ bank accounts, charging him with wire fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release Friday (April 22).

Zeto allegedly partnered with foreign telemarketers who provided him with the names, bank account numbers and other personal information for American consumers who he said had purchased products. They had not agreed to purchase the products and had not authorized a debit to their bank accounts.

Zeto knew that at least one of his telemarketing partners was engaged in fraud, that many of the supposed sales sent by his telemarketing partners were not real sales and that consumers had not authorized debits from their bank accounts, according to court documents.

The indictment alleges that Zeto used the information from his telemarketing partners to create fraudulent checks payable to companies he controlled and arranged to open accounts with banks and payment processors in the United States to deposit the fraudulent checks, attempting to take millions of dollars from victims’ accounts, in many cases successfully.

Zeto also allegedly knew that many of the victims were older Americans and that “he took steps to reduce the likelihood that financial institutions would scrutinize, and possibly close, the bank accounts into which he was depositing the fraudulent checks.”

“The defendant is charged with acting as a vital link in a scheme with foreign telemarketing partners to defraud American victims,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, in the press release. “The Department of Justice is committed to protecting older Americans from fraud, including people who knowingly help fraudsters.”

If convicted, Zeto faces a maximum term of 20 years in prison for wire fraud, 30 years behind bars for bank fraud and a mandatory two-year term of imprisonment for aggravated identity theft.

Related: NY Doctor Charged in $10M Medicare Fraud

Earlier this week, the DOJ said a doctor in New York has been indicted in an alleged $10 million Medicare/Medicaid fraud scheme. Elemer Raffai, 56, of Rome, is accused of signing prescriptions and order forms using telemedicine services to procure durable medical equipment (DME) that was not medically necessary.