For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Office of Inspector General (202) 565-3908
WASHINGTON, DC, November 15, 2010, - The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) announced today that Miami resident Carlos Luis Morano, 50, was arrested on November 8, 2010, on charges that he conspired to commit wire fraud in connection with two Ex-Im Bank short-term, multi-buyer, loan insurance policies resulting in loan defaults and claims paid by Ex-Im Bank of approximately $750,000.
On November 8, 2010, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers in Atlanta, Georgia, arrested Morano as he arrived on an international flight from Argentina. Morano was arrested based on an arrest warrant obtained by Special Agents from the Ex-Im Bank OIG charging him with violations of 18 USC 1349 (conspiracy to commit wire fraud).
According to the criminal complaint, Morano owned and managed a Miami-based business known as CLM Financing and Investment, which purported to be an investment planning company. Around 2009 through 2010, Morano conspired with others to obtain Ex-Im Bank insured loans for exporting U.S. goods overseas. According to the criminal complaint, Morano received fees or commissions for help in obtaining the Ex-Im Bank insured loans which were intended to purchase U.S. manufactured goods for shipment to borrowers in Central America. As part of the loan guarantee, the exporters shipping the goods were required to submit invoices and shipping documents as evidence that the goods had been shipped. According to the criminal complaint however, Morano and others conspired to create fake foreign buyers and falsify invoices and shipping documents and did not use the loan proceeds for the purchase and shipment of the goods guaranteed by Ex-Im Bank. Morano was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud by knowingly executing a scheme or artifice, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses transmitted by wire, for purposes of obtaining money or property. According to the criminal complaint, in 2002, Morano also acted as an exporter in approximately 20 other Ex-Im Bank insured loans which subsequently defaulted, resulting in approximately $1.5 million in losses to the U.S. government.
This case is being prosecuted by Department of Justice's Fraud Section, Criminal Division, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida.
An arrest based on a criminal complaint is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The Ex-Im Bank, an independent agency of the United States Government, is the official export credit agency of the United States. Ex-Im Bank issues insurance and guarantees to banks and financial institutions to insure or guarantee loans to creditworthy foreign companies for the purpose of purchasing U.S. goods and services. The Ex-Im Bank loan insurance policy or guarantee provides that if the foreign borrower defaults on its loan repayments to the lending institution, the Ex-Im Bank will reimburse the amount of the outstanding loan principal and interest to the lending institution.