Jose Velasco Was Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison for $17 Million Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Export-Import Bank
WASHINGTON – An El Paso, Texas, resident was sentenced on 5/26/2011, to 70 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of more than $17 million, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; Osvaldo L. Gratacos, Inspector General of the Ex-Im Bank; and Manuel Oyola-Torres, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso. Jose Velasco, 40, was also sentenced by Judge Reginald Walton in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $17.9 million in restitution and $17.9 million in forfeiture. Velasco pleaded guilty on Sept. 24, 2010, to a criminal information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. According to court documents, ...