Thread: FBI Sting Nabs 22 People For Bribing Foreign Officials

Updated January 19, 2010

FBI Sting Nabs 22 People Suspected of Bribing Foreign Officials

WASHINGTON -- Twenty-two executives and employees at suppliers to the military and law enforcement agencies were arrested on the eve of their industry's annual trade show in Las Vegas after a 2 1/2-year undercover sting operation aimed at schemes to bribe a foreign official.

The Justice Department called the case the largest single investigation and prosecution of individuals in the history of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars bribery of foreign government officials. It also is the first large-scale use of an undercover operation in enforcing the corrupt practices act.

In a briefing for reporters, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said there are more than 140 open investigations under the act.

Twenty-one of the 22 people caught up in the case were arrested in Las Vegas, where they were preparing to attend the 2010 Shooting, Hunting & Outdoor Trade Show, a convention with more than 55,000 attendees at the Sands Expo & Convention Center. The convention started Tuesday.

Charged are people at companies in eight states and executives at companies in the United Kingdom and Israel.

The defendants allegedly agreed to pay a 20 percent commission to a sales agent they believed represented the defense minister for an African country. They were trying to win a multimillion-dollar deal to outfit the presidential guard.

The sales agent was actually an undercover FBI agent, and no defense minister was involved at all.

In Las Vegas, word of the arrests came as a surprise to show organizers, said Mark Thomas, marketing and communications manager for the show host, the National Shooting Sports Foundation of Newtown, Conn. Thomas referred questions about the arrests to the FBI and Justice Department.

Those charged worked for companies in Arkansas, Virginia, Florida, California, Massachusetts, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

Indictments against each of the 22 individuals alleges conspiracy and substantive violations of the corrupt practices act and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The charges relating to the corrupt practices act carry a maximum five-year prison sentence on conviction.

The maximum sentence for money laundering conspiracy is 20 years.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01 ... officials/

Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release
January 19, 2010 U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888

Twenty-Two Executives and Employees of Military and Law Enforcement Products Companies Charged in Foreign Bribery Scheme

Defendants Arrested in Las Vegas and Miami; 21 Search Warrants Executed in United States and United Kingdom

WASHINGTON—Twenty-two executives and employees of companies in the military and law enforcement products industry have been indicted for engaging in schemes to bribe foreign government officials to obtain and retain business, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips for the District of Columbia; and Assistant Director Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. Twenty-one defendants were arrested in Las Vegas yesterday. One defendant was arrested in Miami. The indictments stem from an FBI undercover operation that focused on allegations of foreign bribery in the military and law enforcement products industry.

The 16 indictments unsealed today represent the largest single investigation and prosecution against individuals in the history of DOJ’s enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a law that prohibits U.S. persons and companies, and foreign persons and companies acting in the United States, from bribing foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. The indictments unsealed today were returned on Dec. 11, 2009, by a grand jury in Washington, D.C.

In connection with these indictments, approximately 150 FBI agents executed 14 search warrants in locations across the country, including Bull Shoals, Ark.; San Francisco; Miami; Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; Sarasota, Fla.; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Sunrise, Fla.; University Park, Fla.; Decatur, Ga.; Stearns, Ky.; Upper Darby, Penn.; and Woodbridge, Va. Additionally, the United Kingdom’s City of London Police executed seven search warrants in connection with their own investigations into companies involved in the foreign bribery conduct that formed the basis for the indictments.

“This ongoing investigation is the first large-scale use of undercover law enforcement techniques to uncover FCPA violations and the largest action ever undertaken by the Justice Department against individuals for FCPA violations,â€

So what happens in Vegas doesn't necessarily stay in Vegas.