Colombian Business Owner Sentenced to Pay $18 Million for Scheme to Defraud Ex-Im
A Colombian business owner convicted of attempting to defraud the Export-Import Bank of about $8 million -- through a scheme involving fake loan documents, deceiving wire transfers and forced defaults -- was ordered to pay more than $18 million and serve prison time, the Bank announced April 22. Juan Carlos Schwartzman, a Colombian citizen with permanent U.S. residency status, was sentenced in U.S. District Court on April 19 to 30 months in prison, plus 36 months of supervised release time and pay more than $18 million in restitution and forfeiture. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in July 2011. Schwartzman owned J.C. Schwartzman & Associates, a trade finance consulting firm in Miami and Barranquilla, Colombia. The firm assisted several Colombian buyers in obtaining lender financing guaranteed by Ex-Im, the Bank’s Office of Inspector General said in a release.
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From March 2005 through October 2007, Schwartzman and other co-conspirators planned a scheme to “unlawfully enrich themselves” by submitting false information to the Bank, the OIG said. Schwartzman admitted to preparing and submitting false applications, financial statements, invoices and shipping records -- all of which falsely reflected that goods were purchased and shipped to Colombian buyers. Instead, Schwartzman and others distributed the difference in the loan amounts, and the purchase price of goods cheaper than those actually purchased and shipped, between themselves and others, court documents said. Schwartzman said he and others made wire transfers between and among their bank accounts to disguise the nature of the money, court documents said. The loans were also allowed to default, triggering Ex-Im’s obligation to cover the debts. The Bank paid lenders or loan assignees for defaulted amounts of more than $8.5 million as a result, OIG said.
This case was prosecuted the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, Department of Justice and investigated by Ex-Im’s OIG General and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Washington, D.C.