MIAMI – Michel Duarte Suarez, a 50-year-old Cuban national, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a scheme from Panama that involved stealing over $800,000 from an elderly victim's bank account. The scheme was executed with the help of co-conspirators in South Florida.
Suarez was indicted in September 2023 while residing in Panama City, Panama. He was arrested there in January 2025 and subsequently brought to South Florida to face charges.
Court documents reveal that in March 2022, Suarez informed a confidential informant about his access to the bank account of an elderly victim, who was 82 years old at the time. Suarez sent fraudulent checks from Panama to South Florida with instructions for them to be cashed and half of the proceeds returned to him via wire transfer to his Miami-based company, Online Electronics. These checks had forged signatures mimicking the victim’s signature on their bank account.
Over four months, Suarez and his associates stole approximately $803,000 from the victim's account.
Sentencing is scheduled for September 29, 2025, in Miami before United States District Court Judge Kathleen M. Williams. Suarez has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud (Count 1) and one count of aggravated identity theft (Count 4). He faces up to 30 years in prison for Count 1 and an additional mandatory two years for Count 4.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida; 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.
Assistant United States Attorney Alexander Thor Pogozelski is prosecuting this case while Assistant United States Attorney Marx Calderon handles asset forfeiture proceedings.
For more information or updates 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 check related court documents on www.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 23-CR-20359-WILLIAMS.
