California Man Sentenced to Six Months in Prison in Connection With Scheme to Defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States
WASHINGTON, DC — Edward Javier, 54, was sentenced to six months in prison in connection with a $1 million scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor of the District of Columbia announced today.
Javier, of Cerritos, Calif., was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the Honorable Richard W. Roberts. In addition to his prison sentence, Javier will serve six months home detention and 36 months of supervised release following his release from prison, and will pay restitution of $684,934 to the Ex-Im Bank. Javier pleaded guilty on April 30, 2008, to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of mail fraud. As part of his plea, Javier, the former owner of Lifeline Infinity Inc., admitted that between February 2003 and July 2003, he acted as a purported exporter in a fraudulent $1 million loan transaction, falsified documents sent to U.S. banks and to the Ex-Im Bank, and misappropriated approximately $870,000 in loan proceeds. Javier admitted to keeping approximately $13,000 of those proceeds, transferring approximately $550,000 of the loan proceeds to bank accounts owned or controlled by a co-conspirator in the Philippines and transferring approximately $300,000 to a company in the United Kingdom.
This case is part of a broader investigation into an $80 million scheme to defraud the Ex-Im Bank between November 1999 and December 2005. To date, seven individuals - Javier, Daniel Curran, Edward Chua, David Villongco, Robert Delgado, Christina Song and Jaime Galvez - have pleaded guilty to charges related to their involvement in the fraud scheme. Curran was sentenced on April 23, 2008, to 41 months in prison; Chua was sentenced on May 14, 2008, to 37 months in prison; Villongco was sentenced on Feb. 29, 2008, to 33 months in prison; Delgado was sentenced on Oct. 5, 2007, to 24 months in prison; and Galvez was sentenced on Jan. 7, 2008, to 12 months in prison. Song is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 2, 2008.
In addition, four other individuals - Marilyn Ong, Ildefonso Ong, Nelson Ti and Joseph Tirona - have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for their alleged involvement in the scheme. These cases are being investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Los Angeles Division and the FBI's Washington Field Office. The cases are being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Hank Bond Walther of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and Michael K. Atkinson, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.