Miami-area business owner sentenced in scheme to defraud EXIM
WASHINGTON, March 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) announced that a Miami-area business owner was sentenced for her role in a scheme to defraud EXIM.
On February 27, 2020, Ada Larrea de Quesada (de Quesada), 75, the owner of Millenium Natural Manufacturing Corp. (Millenium) of Doral, FL was sentenced by Judge Ursula Ungaro in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, FL. De Quesada was sentenced to 36 months of probation including six months of home confinement. De Quesada was also ordered to pay $387,548.46 in restitution as well as a $100 Special Assessment Fee. De Quesada pled guilty on December 19, 2019, to one count of False, Fictitious or Fraudulent Claims involving a scheme to defraud EXIM.
According to court documents on or about September 17, 2014 in Miami-Dade County, in the Southern District of Florida and elsewhere, de Quesada did knowingly make and present, and cause to be made and presented to EXIM, an agency of the United States, a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent claim upon and against EXIM. This claim indicated that one of Millenium's international customers had defaulted on payments of invoices guaranteed by EXIM, knowing that the claim was false, fictitious, and fraudulent, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 287 and 2.
This case was prosecuted by the Major Crimes Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. The case was investigated by EXIM OIG in Washington, D.C.
EXIM is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing. EXIM provides a variety of financing mechanisms to help U.S. exporters sell goods and services abroad.
EXIM OIG is an independent office within EXIM. The OIG receives and investigates complaints and information concerning violations of law, rules or regulations, fraud against EXIM, mismanagement, waste of funds, and abuse of authority connected with EXIM's programs and operations. Additional information about the OIG can be found at www.exim.gov/oig. Complaints and reports of waste, fraud, and abuse related to EXIM programs and operations can be reported to the OIG hotline at 888-OIG-EXIM (888-644-3946) or via email at [email protected].
SOURCE Export-Import Bank of the United States, Office of Inspector General
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