Bank Fraud

In Philadelphia on Friday, Carl Spitko, former CEO of two suburban Philadelphia area electronics companies, pleaded guilty to  to 11 counts of bank fraud and two counts of aiding and abetting in connection with a scheme to defraud Wachovia Bank and a predecessor of nearly $1.5 million between 2001 and 2005. He was indicted in January 2007. Spitko’s Maintech Inc. manufactured and distributed laminators for the printed circuit board industry. He had a line of credit with Wachovia secured largely by Maintech’s accounts receivable. He admitted lying about the amount of money in Maintech’s accounts, hiding money and property from the bank and opening up a second company, Sentek, to use and sell Maintech’s assets without paying back the bank. Spitko is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31;he faces a sentence in the range of 46 to 71 months in prison, according to the USAO in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Business Journal, DOJ).

Andrew Parker of San Antonio, who owns an equipment exporting company called San Antonio Trade Group, Inc., was indicted this week by a federal grand jury in San Antonio in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the US. The 28-count indictment includes one count of conspiracy, nine counts of wire fraud, two counts of use of a false document, 12 counts of money laundering, two counts of tax evasion, and two counts of filing a false income tax return.

The Ex-Im Bank helps US companies export products by guaranteeing loans made by private banks to foreign businesses who use the proceeds to buy the products. Parker is accused of causing multi-million dollar losses to the Ex-Im Bank by falsifying loan applications, submitting false reports that goods were bought with the loans, and diverting millions of the loan proceeds for his personal use. In some cases, associates in Mexico allegedly received the proceeds as direct cash payments; in other cases, the businesses allegedly did not exist. Investigators say Parker and his company are involved in more than $163 million in loans and allege that none have yet been found to be legitimate (San Antonio Express-News, DOJ).

In Tucson on Wednesday, Scott Gompert of Phoenix was sentenced by Chief US District Judge John M. Roll  to 26 months in prison for stealing more than $1.1 million from bank accounts of fraud suspects. Gompert pleaded guilty in October 2007, to a two-count information charging him with bank fraud and forging the signature of a judge or court officer; he also forfeited cash and other assets equal to the amount of the fraud. Gompert was formerly a special agent with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the US Department of Health & Human Services. He used his experience as an investigator to identify bank accounts holding funds seized from fraudulent activity. Three times in 2005 and 2006 he prepared fraudulent seizure warrants with forged signatures of US magistrate judges and presented the warrants to banks holding the funds; the warrants directed the banks to prepare cashier’s checks made out to a fake federal seizure account he controlled. AP, DOJ.

In Newark, New Jersey on Monday, US District Judge Stanley Chesler sentenced former Suprema Specialties Inc. CFO Steven Venechanos to eight years in prison and ordered him to pay $115 million restitution. Venechanos and former Suprema Specialties CEO Mark Cocchiola were convicted in April 2007 on 38 counts including conspiracy, bank fraud, making false statements to the SEC, wire fraud and mail fraud for their roles in a fraud that caused the Paterson, New Jersey cheesemaker to collapse in 2002.  Cocchiola was sentenced to 15 years in prison on March 27 (earlier). The seven year long scheme involved fraudulently inflating inventories and  billing $400 million in non-existent sales, causing a loss to investors and banks estimated at more than $177 million.  New Jersey Star-Ledger, Forbes/AP.

In Newark, New Jersey on Thursday, US District Judge Stanley Chesler sentenced former Suprema Specialties Inc. President and CEO Mark Cocchiola to 15 years in prison for his role in a fraud that caused the Paterson, New Jersey cheesemaker to collapse in 2002. He was also ordered to pay $115 million restitution to investors and banks; the total loss has been estimated at more than $177 million. Cocchiola and Suprema Specialties CFO Steve Venechanos were convicted in April 2007 on 38 counts including conspiracy, bank fraud, making false statements to the SEC,wire fraud and mail fraud. The charges arose from a complex and long-running scheme to increase the company’s stock price by fraudulently inflating inventories and by billing $400 million in non-existent sales. Venechanos is scheduled for sentencing on April 7. New Jersey Star-Ledger, AP.

Marble dealer John Byors of Williston, Vermont pleaded guilty on Tuesday in US District Court in Burlington to 16 counts including bank fraud, mail fraud, travel fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme that cost investors an estimated $8 million. The plea was described as a surprise and came the day before his trial was scheduled to begin. A revised 42 count indictment alleged that Byors solicited about $10 million from 78 investors between 2000 and 2005 to finance the harvesting of a rare red marble, promising a high rate of return, but that he diverted most of the money for personal use and only repaid 16 investors. Byors was originally indicted in 2006 and had backed out of an earlier plea agreement. He has been incarcerated for two years. Sentencing has been scheduled for late September. Burlington Free Press story here.

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected without comment the appeals of Adelphia Communications founder and former CEO John Rigas and his son, former Adelphia CFO John Rigas. Both were convicted of securities fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy in 2004. The charges arose out of Adelphia’s 2002 collapse into bankruptcy after the company revealed $2.2 billion in previously unreported liabilities. John Rigas, now 83, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Timothy Rigas received a 20 year sentence. They appealed, claiming that accounting terms had not been properly explained to the jury and that they had followed generally accepted accounting principles; but the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld their convictions last year and they began serving their sentences last August. AP/Washington Post story here.

David Villongco of San Mateo, California was sentenced to 33 months in prison on Friday by US District Judge Richard W. Roberts for defrauding the US Export-Import Bank of $20 million. Villongco, former co-owner and manager of PBJ Venture International Corporation, pleaded guilty in March 2007 to one count of conspiracy and one count of mail fraud. He admitted that he and a co-conspirator borrowed $20 million from the bank from 2001 to 2004 under fraudulent pretenses. The funds were to be used to purchase goods for export to the Philippines, but he and co-conspirators in the US and the Philippines misappropriated about $16 million. Six others have pleaded guilty in the scheme and four more have been indicted. Bizjournal here, San Mateo County Times here.

A US District court jury in Tampa on Monday convicted former Bartow, Florida auto dealer John Giovanetti on 11 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy in connection with $2.5 million in car loan proceeds obtained fraudulently from SunTrust Bank. Giovanetti formerly owned Big Oaks Pontiac Buick GMC in Bartow. Evidence presented at trial showed that on at least 11 different occasions, he had employees fax loan funding requests to SunTrust Bank for cars no longer in his dealership’s possession, “resulting in the unlawful receipt by Big Oaks of over $2.5 million.” Giovanetti faces up to 30 years on each wire fraud and bank fraud count and up to 5 years on the conspiracy count. Sentencing is scheduled for May 12, 2008 before U.S. District Judge James Whittemore. Tampa Bay Business Journal here, DOJ here.