December 11, 2020
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Moein Marashi, 52, in Clearwater for the following charges: Two counts of grand theft (100k or more); five counts of grand theft (20K or more); two counts of grand theft (10k or more but less than 20K); one count of scheme to defraud (50K or more); two counts of use of personal identification information (5K or more); one count of cash/deposit item w/intent to defraud; and one count of uttering a forged instrument.
Marashi, a member of the Florida Bar Association since 2002, was disbarred in August 2019. The investigation began in 2019 and found that Marashi deprived clients of money entrusted to him for legal services.
“It’s unconscionable that this man abused his position of authority to steal from people who trusted him to help. Anyone who tries to exploit our hard-working citizens—by turning a client into a victim—will be held accountable. Because of the partnership between law enforcement and prosecutors, he will now face justice,” Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said.
“FDLE is proud of the thorough investigative work of our agents,” said FDLE Tampa Bay Special Agent in Charge Mark Brutnell. “This arrest was not possible without the hard work of the State Attorney’s Office, 13th Judicial Circuit. We are thankful for their efforts on this case.”
Marashi defrauded several victims of thousands of dollars by utilizing accounts at multiple banks in Hillsborough County. He also used the names and signatures of multiple victims without authorization or consent to obtain fraudulent “confidential general release of all claims” documents in order to get an insurance company to issue him settlement checks. He also wrote a check in the amount of $3,700 from one bank account that was closed in 2018 and deposited the same check into another account that had an insufficient balance, then withdrew all of the funds.
The investigation found that in total, Marashi stole approximately $700,000 from April 4, 2016 through February 4, 2019.
Marashi was arrested today with help from the Clearwater Police Department and booked into the Pinellas County Jail. The Office of the State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit will prosecute this case.
