Filipino Couple Must Serve 20-Year Jail Term for Fraud
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has affirmed a 20-year sentence on fraud charges against a Filipino couple who became instant millionaires after a U.S. bank made an erroneous remittance in 1977, officials said Friday.
In upholding a criminal court’s decision in 1983, the high tribunal threw out the argument of Melchor and Victoria Javier that they accepted the money in good faith.
The Supreme Court, in its decision Thursday, ordered the immediate arrest and imprisonment of the couple.
The case stemmed from a $1,000 remittance to Manila by Victoria Javier’s relative, Jose Ventosa, on May 27, 1977, through the First National Bank of Moundsville, W. Va.
The Moundsville bank sent the money via the Mellon Bank, which made the error and transmitted a check for $1 million.
The error was discovered on June 13, 1977. The Javiers by then claimed that they had spent the money.
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