John A. Gibney Jr., U.S. District Judge, handed down the sentence to Minor Vargas Calvo, the Costa Rica businessman, who is 61 years old now. The 60-year sentence would ensure that Vargas would remain in prison for life. Federal prosecutors sought such a sentence, while Vargas argued that he has already spent 644 days in custody and he had learned the lesson.
Vargas stated that he has been completely rehabilitated and he did not deserve additional punishment but his statement appeared unapologetic and rambling.
Vargas was the president of Provident Capital Indemnity Ltd. He was convicted on 10 money laundering and fraud counts in April. Prosecutors claimed that thousands of people from many parts of the world were victims of the scam.
Provident Capital sold bonds that guaranteed funding to life settlement companies that bought various life insurance policy programs from thousands of people at less than the face values of the insured amounts and collected the benefits when the insured people died. Provident sold these bonds based on falsified financial statements. The bonds did not have any protection from reinsurance agreements with foremost insurance companies, which was a claim that Vargas made. Due to this malpractice, several depositors lost their entire life savings.
One of the victims of the scam by Vargas was Paula Whitaker, a retired teacher and counselor in Magnolia, Texas. She happened to lose $1 million that she has saved by taking three jobs simultaneously and she has saved the money to start a charitable organization. The Charity was to be a memorial to her son, who died at the age of 25 and his dream to become a nurse remain a nurse.
Another victim from Naperville, Illinois was Therese Giger, whose husband has saved $500,000 for the treatment of his cancer. The loss resulted in his death and he died without peace of mind in his last days.
Federal prosecutors requested the judge to impose a strong sentence so that there would be a clear message that such grave financial crimes would be severe. The attorney of Vargas has requested a prison sentence of 20 years.
This sentence of 60 years is similar to the one given Adley Abdulwahab, working for a life settlement firm, A&O, which did business with President. While one more principal of A&O received 45 years sentence, other conspirators in the scam received somewhat shorter sentences. Another accountant who conducted a phony audit of Provident is likely to receive his sentence in October.
The Provident and A&O trials were in Virginia, since many transactions and victims were from that area. Whitaker and Giger were very satisfied with the sentence to Vargas, since they also received life sentences due to his fraudulent activities and he would not be able to harm others any more.
