A Texas attorney was arrested and removed to Florida after being charged for allegedly conspiring to defraud lawyers and law firms across the nation out of at least $8.8 million.

Perry Don Cortese of Little River and a nonlawyer codefendant, Priscilla Ann Ellis of Harker Heights, were arrested and charged with wire fraud conspiracy and international money laundering conspiracy on Aug. 31 in Waco. A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ordered them removed to face charges in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.

The Aug. 20 indictment in United States v. Ellis said that from at least January 2012 to the present, Cortese and Ellis conspired together and with other people to commit wire fraud with an intent to obtain money and property fraudulently.