A Florida man has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in federal court in Newark, New Jersey.

The 60-year-old suspect, who resides in Seminole, Florida, defrauded a business located in Bergen County, NJ out of $220,000. According to federal authorities, the suspect took the funds by using an alias of “Mark Sawyer” and submitting invoices from a fake company.

The suspect allegedly formed Sawyer Express Transportation, a phony business that he claimed was located in Idaho. He then reached out to an actual business located in Bergen County, New Jersey and provided fake invoices for transportation services. Ultimately, the suspect bilked the Bergen County NJ business out of hundreds of thousands of dollars between June 2014 and September 2014.

The Bergen County factoring firm victimized the suspect provided his fake business with short-term financing because the suspect was allegedly in need of immediate cash.

Now the suspect has entered a guilty plea on the very serious federal charges. He recently appeared in U.S. District Court in Newark NJ and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

The suspect will be required to appear again in U.S. District Court in Newark on May 24 so that he can be formally sentenced on the wire fraud charges. When the sentence is handed down, the suspect faces as many as 20 years in federal prison, as well as a $250K fine.

For additional information about this case, check out the NJ.com article, “Man Used Fake Company to Bilk Real Bergen Business.”