Julian Martin Gaspar Vazquez (Gaspar), 52, of Mexico was sentenced on May 22, 2015, by United States District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas, to forty-one months’ imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release for executing a $4 million dollar bank fraud scheme. Gaspar was also ordered to pay $4,488,000 in restitution. In addition, the Court imposed a $4 million forfeiture money judgment against Gaspar.

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael McCarthy, Deputy Inspector General, Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank), and Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Washington Field Office, made the announcement.

On February 12, 2015, Gaspar pled guilty to one count of bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344.

According to court documents Gaspar was the owner of “Ecologia en Tratamientos de Agua, S.A. de C.V.” (“ETA”). ETA was a Mexican company in the business of water treatment. In or around March of 2006, Gaspar sought an Ex-Im Bank insured credit line from Espirito Santo Bank, a United States bank located in Miami, Florida. Ex-Im Bank is a United States agency that issues insurance to United States lending banks for loans made to foreign buyers of United States goods. The stated purpose for the credit line was to enable ETA to import United States goods into Mexico.

From September 2009 through February 2010, Gaspar caused Espirito Santo Bank to make four reimbursement disbursements of $1 million each to ETA. The supporting documents included false bank records purporting to show payments by ETA to a United States company and false Mexican customs documents purporting to show that United States goods had been exported to Mexico. From in or around March 2010, through in or around August 2010, ETA and Gaspar failed to repay the disbursements when due, and defaulted on the Ex-Im Bank insured loan. As a result, Gaspar caused $4,488,000 in losses to Ex-Im Bank which had insured the loan that Gaspar fraudulently obtained from Espirito Santo Bank.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the Ex-Im Bank OIG and the FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ana Maria Martinez.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.