Man faces fraud charges in hurricane donation case
Shortly after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, a man named Emilio contacted volunteers in Miami who were collecting humanitarian aid for the island. He told them he was a millionaire from a wealthy Puerto Rican family. He offered to pay almost $1 million for the warehouses to hold the donations and the charter flights to send the aid. And he did — with fake checks, federal agents say.
Despite having a long criminal record, including in Central Florida, Emilio Vázquez, who introduced himself as Emilio Serrallés and said he lived in Coral Gables, allegedly duped businessmen and managed to get on a charter flight from Miami International Airport to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, to distribute supplies. He flew along with celebrities such as singer Olga Tañon and TV host María Celeste Arrarás, who didn't know his true identity.
On Tuesday, Secret Service agents arrested Vázquez in Brooklyn, N.Y. The 47-year-old man now faces wire transfer fraud charges.
The suspect already had an arrest warrant in Orange County for violating his probation after a 15-year sentence on a separate fraud case.
According to a violation of probation affidavit in that case, Vázquez fled Central Florida after attempting to purchase three houses with fake checks, paying his rent with fake checks and draining his father's bank account. “He got his father kicked out of his assisted living facility because he was paying his father's rent with fraudulent checks,” according to the affidavit.
In a statement sent in November, the Serrallés family, owners of Don Q rum distillery in Puerto Rico, denied any links with Vázquez and repudiated his alleged actions.
According to the criminal complaint, on Sept. 29, Vázquez paid $122,050 with a fraudulent bank cashier's check to Commercial Property Group for the rent of several warehouses in Doral, where tons of hurricane donations from South Floridians were stored. On Oct. 12, he delivered a fraudulent $564,036 check to Miami Air International for five charter flights to several airports in Puerto Rico, the complaint states.
El Nuevo Herald interviewed the owner of the cargo aircraft company, Global Aviation Link, who said Vázquez paid him almost $500,000 with fraudulent checks.