U.S. Department of Justice Marcos Daniel Jiménez United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
	99 N.E. 4th Street Miami, FL 33132 (305) 961-9001

FORMER BANK VICE PRESIDENT SENTENCED TO 57- MONTH PRISON TERM

Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael S. Clemens, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Don B. Saxon, Director, State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation, announced today that defendant, Eduardo Godoy, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in West Palm Beach, Florida, to a term of fifty-seven (57) months in prison on charges arising from his participation in a fraud scheme involving the now defunct Pheonix Financial Groups (“Pheonix”). Judge Middlebrooks also sentenced Godoy to a term of five (5) years’ supervised release and ordered him to pay $2.6 million in restitution.

On April 20, 2004, Godoy pleaded guilty to one (1) count of mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section1341; two (2) counts of loan fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1014; and two (2) counts of money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957.

According to statements made in court, in May 2001, while Godoy was a Vice-President of Advantage Bank, he spoke to a client of Pheonix and confirmed that Pheonix had purchased on her behalf a $1 million certificate of deposit (“CD”) held overseas by Advantage Bank, when no such CD existed. At the time, Pheonix was a well-known investment firm in Palm Beach County. The principal of Pheonix was Thomas Abrams, Godoy’s friend. In October 2001, Godoy secured approximately $1 million in personal bank loans by providing to financial institutions false statements about his claimed investments in Pheonix. The statements were false in that they showed that Godoy had invested over $800,000 with Pheonix, when in fact, he had not made any investments with Pheonix. Godoy laundered the loan money he received by using it to purchase stock in the names of his parents in a company called American Ammunition.

In November, 2001, in a separate prosecution, Abrams was indicted on six (6) counts of mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341; six (6) counts of wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343; and three (3) counts of money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956. On March 8, 2002, Abrams pleaded guilty to each count of the Indictment. According to the Indictment and the government’s evidence at Abrams’ sentencing hearing, over a seven (7) year period, Abrams diverted over $33.9 million from over one-hundred (100) investors through Pheonix. Instead of investing his clients' money, Abrams used the funds to pay his own business and personal expenses; to pay back other investors, and to make charitable donations and pay expenses associated with the Pheonix Foundation for Children. Abrams also used victim funds to pay large appearance fees to a number of celebrities on behalf of the Pheonix Foundation. Most of Abrams' victims were retirees who believed Abrams had invested their savings in conservative investments such as municipal bonds and blue-chip stocks. Instead, they had virtually their entire life savings stolen by Abrams as part of his scheme. On September 13, 2002, Abrams was sentenced to twenty-five (25) years’ in prison by United States District Court Judge Donald L. Graham, in Miami, Florida, and was ordered to pay $18.9 million in restitution.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn Bell.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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