A 69-year-old Florida man has pleaded guilty to stealing money from thousands of people and businesses by using fraudulent checks to make unauthorized withdrawals from their bank accounts.
Eri Guzman Ortiz, formerly of Miami-Dade County, admitted to one count of wire fraud after investigators say he created and deposited roughly $14 million in bogus checks through accounts belonging to sham companies.
According to court documents, Ortiz received lists from a client in Canada containing thousands of individuals and businesses that were supposedly customers of the fake companies…