Fil-Am gets six months in Washington for fraud

CHICAGO, Illinois – A Filipino American father of seven was sentenced Friday to six months in jail in connection with a $1-million scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).


Edward Javier, 53, of Cerritos, California, was sentenced by Judge Richard W. Roberts of the US District Court for the District of Columbia to serve six months home detention and 36 months of supervised release following his release from prison.

He was also ordered to pay restitution of $684,934 to the Ex-Im Bank, said acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and US Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor of the District of Columbia.

Javier pleaded guilty on April 30, 2008 to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of mail fraud in a plea deal.

The former owner of Lifeline Infinity, Inc., Javier admitted that between February 2003 and July 2003, he acted as a make-believe “exporter" in a $1-million loan transaction by falsifying documents sent to US banks and to the Ex-Im Bank and misappropriated approximately $870,000 in loan proceeds.

He kept $13,000 of those proceeds and transferred approximately $550,000 of those proceeds to bank accounts owned and controlled by a co-conspirator in the Philippines and $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 Nov. 1999 and Dec. 2005.

To date, seven people – Javier, Daniel Curran, Edward Chua, David Villongco, Robert Delgado, Christina Song and Jaime Galvez – have pleaded guilty to the charges.

Curran was sentenced last 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 for sentencing on Oct. 2, 2008.

Four other individuals – Marilyn Ong and Ildefonso Ong, the alleged masterminds, Nelson Ti and Joseph Tirona, all believed to be hiding in the Philippines – have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia as alleged conspirators in the scheme.

The cases are being investigated by the US 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 US Attorney for the District of Columbia.

As the least “culpable," Javier’s participation was considered a “drop in the bucket" in the “Grand Scheme" of things. He participated in the conspiracy in a “one-time" transaction.
Prosecutors asked for leniency in his sentence because of his “limited participation," “his cooperation with law enforcement and his acceptance of responsibility." - GMANews.TV

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