Laredo Resident Lands in Federal Prison for Wire Fraud

LAREDO, TX—Jesus Alaniz Jr., 54, of Laredo, has been sentenced to federal prison in relation to a scheme in which he transferred monies from his employer to a fictitious company he created, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. At the sentencing hearing today, U.S. District Judge Nancy F. Atlas sentenced Alaniz to 37 months in prison and further ordered him to pay and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution.

At the time of his guilty plea on Nov. 10, 2012, Alaniz admitted to utilizing a scheme by which he created a fictitious alter-ego company called Freight Logistics Services Inc. (FLS). As an employee of UTI Worldwide Inc. (UTI)—a publicly traded supply chain management company—Alaniz wrote checks from UTI’s bank account to FLS, which he then converted to his personal use between May 6 and 7, 2010.

The investigation began in December 2010, when UTI informed the FBI that approximately $950,000 had been stolen from UTI’s Laredo division over the course of the previous 10 years. UTI suspected that Alaniz, its former Laredo branch manager, was involved in this theft by creating FLS, a fraudulent company. UTI provided documentation of all UTI checks issued to FLS, including a copy of the fronts and backs of various checks indicating that they were deposited into an account belonging to FLS at a bank in Laredo. Subsequent investigation revealed personal bank accounts belonging to Alaniz, to which he transferred funds from the FLS account.

Alaniz pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, admitting that FLS was his alter ego and that he established FLS as a way to personally profit from UTI.

Alaniz has been permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

This case was investigated by special agents from the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank T. Pimentel.