Florida man sentenced for bank fraud

WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) -- A Florida man was sentenced to 41 months in prison Wednesday for defrauding the Export-Import Bank of the United States out of $30 million.

At a hearing in Washington, U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts also ordered Daniel Curran, 53, of Boynton Beach to pay restitution of $23.16 million to the bank and to forfeit $140,000 to the federal government. Once he completes his prison term, Curran will serve three years of supervised release, prosecutors said in a news release.

Curran, the former owner of Dankim Trading Corp., had pleaded guilty June 8, 2007, to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of mail fraud. Curran admitted that from October 2000 until June 2005, he was responsible for about $30 million worth of fraudulent loan transactions, falsified documents sent to U.S. banks and to the Export-Import Bank, and misappropriated about $24 million in loan proceeds. Curran admitted keeping about $400,000 and transferring about $23 million to bank accounts owned or controlled by a co-conspirator in the Philippines.

Curran's sentencing is part of a wider probe into an $80 million scheme to defraud the bank. Five other defendants have pleaded guilty and four more have been indicted.