SACRAMENTO, California — Hector Perez, 35, of Stockton, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in a scheme defrauding companies of $2 million, according to U.S. Attorney Eric Grant.
Between May 2018 and November 2020, Hector Perez and his brother, Flavio Perez, 30, also of Stockton, orchestrated a fraudulent scheme targeting invoice factoring companies, as detailed in court documents. Invoice factoring is a financial service that provides immediate cash flow to businesses in exchange for their outstanding invoices. The brothers created corporate entities posing as businesses to sell fabricated debt through fraudulent invoices to at least four different factoring companies. This deception led to the transfer of funds to bank accounts controlled by the defendants, resulting in losses exceeding $2 million for the victim companies.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Thuesen is prosecuting the case. Hector Perez is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb on August 24, 2026. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the wire fraud counts, along with a mandatory consecutive two-year prison term for the aggravated identity theft count. The actual sentence will be determined by the court after considering statutory factors and federal Sentencing Guidelines…