22 July 2004 – LAWFUEL – See PRESS RELEASES for today’s law announcements
Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; and Michael S. Clemens, Acting Special Agent in Charge, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today that defendant, Howard Cantor, the former president, owner, and director of the Miami computing company StrataSys Corporation has pleaded guilty to his involvement in a $170 million scheme to defraud Espirito Santo Bank of Florida. Cantor was convicted of bank fraud and conspiracy in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 371 and1344. The bank fraud charge carries a maximum statutory sentence of thirty (30) years in prison, while the conspiracy charge carries a maximum statutory sentence of five (5) years in prison. Cantor also faces a fine of up to $1 million and an order requiring restitution payments to the victim of the fraud. Cantor is scheduled to be sentenced on October 7, 2004.
The charges against Cantor stem from the decade-long funding relationship between Espirito Santo Bank of Florida and the Bankest entities, a group of factoring companies owned by co-defendants, Eduardo Orlansky and Hector Orlansky. According to the Indictment, the Orlanskys and their co-defendants committed massive fraud on the bank over the course of that relationship. Cantor admitted that he participated in the scheme to misrepresent the value of Bankest’s accounts receivable to Espirito Santo Bank and to independent auditors in order to obtain funding through the bank. While he served as a senior executive of StrataSys Corporation, he provided co-defendants at Bankest with hundreds of false invoices totaling millions of dollars. As part of his plea agreement, Cantor agreed to cooperate in efforts to obtain restitution for the victim. The trial of the Orlanskys and co-defendants, R. Peter Stanham, and Ariadna Puerto, is scheduled to take place in April of 2005.
Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen Stallings and Caroline Heck Miller.
