IRS special agent Shaun Morita filed the complaint in federal court against Danilo T. Aguilar, who practices on Guam and the CNMI.
In his affidavit, Morita said Aguilar withdrew the amount of $100,000 on May 14, 2009, and another $84,947.49 on May 15, 2009 from the same bank on Saipan, “knowing that said money represented proceeds of mail fraud.”
Morita said prior to the withdrawals, Aguilar instructed his male employee to deposit a “cashier’s check” purportedly drawn on Citibank in the amount of $298,960 into a Bank of Guam business checking account at its upper Tumon branch on Guam on March 13, 2009.
The Bank of Guam account is held under the law offices of Danilo T. Aguilar, Morita said.
Bank of Guam placed a hold on the funds for 11 days, the IRS special agent added.
On March 31, 2009, the $298,960 was released into the Bank of Guam account for Danilo Aguilar’s law offices.
On April 1, 2009, the same male employee purchased a cashier’s check from the Bank of Guam branch in Hagåtña.
It was purchased with a check written from Bank of Guam account in the amount of $236,766 made payable to Aguilar’s law offices.
Additionally, Morita said Aguilar’s male employee cashed a check written from the same Bank of Guam account in the amount of $55,792.
On April 2, 2009, the Bank of Guam cashier’s check amounting to $236,766 was deposited into First Hawaiian Bank money market checking account at its Tamuning branch.
The First Hawaiian Bank account is held under Aguilar who is doing business as Law Offices of Danilo Aguilar, Morita said.
On May 14, 2009, the counterfeit Citibank cashier’s check was returned by the Federal Reserve Bank for the reason of “invalid routing number,” and was later confirmed by Citibank to be a fraudulent check, according to Morita.
Bank of Guam’s Hagåtña branch manager Renee C. Wade contacted Aguilar about the fraudulent check and informed him of the chargeable on the Bank of Guam account.
On same day, Morita said Aguilar directed a female employee to withdraw $100,000 from First Hawaiian Bank which she carried out at its Oleai branch on Saipan.
On May 15, 2010, Aguilar again instructed his female employee to withdraw $84,947.49 from the same branch.
On May 19, 2010, Aguilar and his attorney Peter Perez Jr. met with Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley, special agents from the U.S. Secret Service, and Morita regarding the fraudulent Citibank cashier’s check.
Morita said Aguilar “admitted in substance to willingly taking the proceeds of the fraudulent…cashier’s check and authorizing the distribution of the funds, as well as his culpability in withdrawing the proceeds after being notified by Bank of Guam…,”
Morita said Aguilar explained that “[Aguilar] panicked once Bank of Guam froze his bank accounts and immediately began withdrawing funds…to cover business and personal expenses.”
Aguilar “further explained that he received the fraudulent Citibank cashier’s check in the mail.”
Morita said “Aguilar admitted he knew it was wrong not to return the funds as requested by Bank of Guam but he was not thinking properly at the time.”
