South Florida Resident Sentenced to 30 Years For $100 Million International Fraud Scheme That Led To

South Florida Resident Sentenced to 30 Years For $100 Million International Fraud Scheme That Led To the Collapse of One of Puerto Rico’s Largest Banks


A Key Biscayne, Florida, resident and the former CEO and Chairman of a now-bankrupt multinational pharmaceutical company was sentenced to 30 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release yesterday for his role his role in a $100 million scheme to defraud Westernbank of Puerto Rico (Westernbank). The losses triggered a series of events leading to Westernbank’s insolvency and ultimate collapse.

U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan of the Southern District of Florida, Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Inspector General Jay N. Lerner of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), Special Agent in Charge Michael J. DePalma of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) for Miami and Puerto Rico, Special Agent in Charge Iván J. Arvelo of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Juan and Special Agent in Charge Douglas A. Leff of the FBI’s San Juan, Puerto Rico Field Office made the announcement.

Jack Kachkar, 56, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham of the Southern District of Florida, who also presided over the trial in this case. Judge Graham also ordered the defendant to pay $103,490,005 in restitution to the FDIC, as receiver for Westernbank. Kachkar was convicted on Feb. 4, 2019, after a three-week trial, of eight counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

According to evidence presented at trial, from 2005 to 2007, Kachkar served as chairman and CEO of Inyx Inc., a publicly traded multinational pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Beginning in early 2005, Kachkar caused Westernbank to enter into a series of loan agreements in exchange for a security interest in the assets of Inyx and its subsidiaries. Under the loan agreements, Westernbank agreed to advance money based on Inyx’s customer invoices from “actual and bona fide” sales to Inyx customers, the evidence showed.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/south-florida-resident-sentenced-30-years-100-million-international-fraud-scheme-led