William J. Edwards, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, today announced that an information was filed charging Darrius C. Alati, age 38, who resides in Akron, Ohio. The information alleges that Darrius C. Alati committed three counts of bank fraud.

According to the information, Alati was a property broker who fabricated a false corporate resolution which was presented to the subject title company to obtain checks drawn on Fifth Third Bank’s escrow account related to monies flowing from the sale of homes in Akron , Ohio . Alati had the title company divide the monies in to a few checks and Alati forwarded only one of the checks to the seller, James Carter. Carter was unaware that Alati withheld these checks arising from the transactions. In the last instance of the scheme, Alati advised representatives of the title company that he would deliver a $70,000 check drawn on the Fifth Third escrow account to Carter. However, Alati deposited said check into own business account for his personal use.

The sentence in this case, upon conviction may be determined by the Court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which depend upon a number of factors unique to each case, including the defendant's prior criminal record, if any, the defendant's role in the offense and the unique characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. Patton, following investigation by Special Agent David L. O’Connor of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Akron Resident Agency.