Rocky River man charged with money laundering

A Rocky River man was charged with laundering more than $100,000 from investors and using at least some of it for personal expenses, said David A. Sierleja, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Mark Dulik, 31, was charged via criminal information with four counts of money laundering.

Dulik owned and operated Rework, Inc., based in Rocky River, which allegedly provided cloud-based software services. Dulik convinced several individuals to invest in Rework by convincing them that it was a legitimate, on-going business – when in fact Dulik converted the investors’ funds for his own personal use to pay for his lavish lifestyle, according to the information.

Investigators determined that Dulik used new investors’ money to pay dividends/interest payments back to older investors, representing to the earlier investors that the money represented profits from the company, when in fact it operated more like a Ponzi scheme, according to court documents.

Dulik took approximately $101,500 of investors’ money from Rework’s business account that he either used for his own use or falsely representing the funds were returns on earlier investments derived from profits of Rework.

If convicted, the court will determine defendant’s sentence after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violations. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.

The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark S. Bennett following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation.

An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.