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Florida Charges Check Casher in Workers Compensation Laundering Scheme
By Brian Monroe
printA South Florida check casher was the central hub of a workers compensation fraud scheme that used shell construction companies and fraudulent insurance applications to launder nearly $27 million, according to state investigators. The Florida Department of Financial Services (FDFS) said Wednesday that Christiano Leonardo Gloria illegally obtained insurance certificates for fictitious companies and rented the certificates to real construction companies seeking to pay lower premiums and elude payroll taxes. The complicit construction companies then cashed checks for work done, minus a "renting" fee, at Pompano, Fla.-based Vionaldo Express, a money transmitting business owned by Gloria, the department said. In...
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