Business Crimes Hotline

Baez-Garcia's sentencing followed his earlier guilty plea, on May 11 of this year, to charges of conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, and bank fraud. Baez-Garcia's plea was tied to his actions as the co-owner of Valcomar, an El Paso, TX-based export company that claimed to export U.S. goods to Mexico. According to the government, Baez-Garcia admitted that he, along with another exporter, had created false documentation to fraudulently secure a loan from Ex-Im Bank, along with helping others to obtain similarly fraudulent loans. The U.S. government's combined loss on the fraudulent loans was more than $3 million.

TEXAS

Co-owner of Valcomar Inc. Sentenced to 24-month Prison Term

On Oct. 20, before Judge Kathleen Cardone of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in El Paso, Valcomar Inc. (Valcomar) co-owner Gilberto Baez-Garcia was sentenced to a 24-month prison term, along with a five-year term of supervised release, and approximately $3.6 million in both restitution and forfeiture. The sentence was for Baez-Garcia's role in a $3.6 million scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the independent federal agency that assists foreign buyers with financing for the purchase of U.S. exports.

Baez-Garcia's sentencing followed his earlier guilty plea, on May 11 of this year, to charges of conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, and bank fraud. Baez-Garcia's plea was tied to his actions as the co-owner of Valcomar, an El Paso, TX-based export company that claimed to export U.S. goods to Mexico. According to the government, Baez-Garcia admitted that he, along with another exporter, had created false documentation to fraudulently secure a loan from Ex-Im Bank, along with helping others to obtain similarly fraudulent loans. The U.S. government's combined loss on the fraudulent loans was more than $3 million.