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To: rubbersoul who wrote (132485)	10/2/2008 1:37:49 PM
From: Rocket Red	Respond to of 314078

Calif Woman Sentenced 37 Months, Pay $12 Million For Ex-Im Bank Fraud 13:28 EDT Thursday, October 02, 2008 WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A California businesswoman was sentenced to 37 months in prison, ordered to forfeit $300,000 and pay restitution of more than $ 12 million in connection with a $15 million scheme to defraud the U.S. Export- Import Bank, the Department of Justice said Thursday. Cristina Song, 50, of Whittier, Calif., was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and also given three years probation after release from prison. As part of the plea agreement, Song admitted between December 2001 and October 2004 she exported "$15 million of fraudulent loan transactions, falsified documents sent to U.S. banks and to the Ex-Im Bank and misappropriated approximately $15 million in loan proceeds," according to the Justice Department. Song also admitted to keeping approximately $300,000 of those proceeds and transferring approximately $12 million of the loan proceeds to bank accounts owned or controlled by a co-conspirator in the Philippines, the Justice Department said. Song, the former owner and president of V&C Trading/Song Company, plead guilty in November 2007 to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and one count of mail fraud. Song assisted the government with its investigation and prosecution, and the help was considered at sentencing. This case is part of a broader investigation into an $80 million scheme to defraud the Ex-Im Bank between November 1999 and December 2005. So far, eight people have pleaded guilty or have been convicted at trial of charges related to their involvement in the fraud scheme. Four others have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for their alleged involvement in the scheme. Ex-Im Bank, the official export credit agency of the U.S., aims to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets. -By Darrell A. Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6684; darrell.hughes@ dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http:// www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=b0mLQ9gk7h7oHq8Uk5fR6Q%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day. (END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-02-08 1328ET Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. © Copyright Dow Jones