Miami exporter gets 46 months in jail

   The owner of an export company in Miami was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Export-Import Bank of about $24 million, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.
   Guillermo O. Mondino, 48, was sentenced by Judge Ricardo M. Urbina in U.S. District Court in Washington. Mondino pleaded guilty on June 23, 2010, to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with a scheme to defraud the bank. In addition to his prison term, Mondino was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $13.3 million in restitution and $2.7 million in forfeiture.
   From 2003 through 2009, Mondino, through Texon, assisted foreign buyers to create fraudulent loan applications, financial statements, purchase orders, invoices and bills of lading to falsely represent to various lending banks and Ex-Im Bank the purchase and export of U.S. goods to buyers in South and Central America. After receiving more than $24 million in Ex-Im Bank insured loan proceeds, Mondino diverted about $6.4 million of the loan proceeds directly to the foreign buyers.
   According to court records, all of the loans involving Mondino were fraudulent. As a result, the loans went into default, causing the Ex-Im Bank to pay claims to the lending banks on $14.1 million of loans.
   The case is being prosecuted by Attorney Nicole H. Sprinzen of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the Ex-Im Bank Office of Inspector General, IRS in Washington, and Postal Inspection Service in Miami. Agents were also assisted by the Federal Maritime Commission’s South Miami area representatives, in the analysis of complex maritime shipping documents.