By Kelly Swanson | Global Investigations Review
The DOJ secured its 15th guilty plea in relation to a long-running probe into bribery at Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.
Note KKC: Helaas mogen we dit betaalartikel niet overnemen. Geïnteresseerden kunnen voor een abonnement kiezen. Het Reuters artikel van 13 september in het naschrift heeft vrijwel dezelfde inhoud.
Bron: Global Investigations Review
Naschrift KKC
U.S. company manager pleads guilty in PDVSA bribery scheme
(Reuters) – A former manager of a U.S.-based logistics company pleaded guilty on Thursday to paying bribes to secure contracts from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, and the guilty plea of the official who was bribed was also unsealed, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Juan Carlos Castillo Rincon, 55, pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Judge Nancy K. Johnson also unsealed the guilty plea of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) official Jose Orlando Camacho, 46, whom Castillo had bribed, it said.
Camacho had pleaded under seal to conspiracy to commit money laundering in July 2017, the statement said. It referred to Camacho as a “foreign official” but did not specify the position he held in the company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA [PDVSA.UL].
Fourteen people have now pleaded guilty as part of an investigation by the Justice Department into bribery at PDVSA that became public with the arrest of two Venezuelan businessmen in December 2015.
Castillo, of Conroe, Texas, was arrested in Miami in April after he was indicted by a grand jury, the statement said.
A manager at a Houston-based logistics and freight forwarding company, Castillo admitted to conspiring with others to bribe Camacho from 2011 through at least 2013 in exchange for help in obtaining contracts and inside information about the company’s bidding process.
The Justice Department said that Camacho, of Miami, admitted as part of his plea deal to accepting bribes from Castillo and the company he worked for, as well as conspiring with him to launder proceeds of the scheme.
Castillo and Camacho have agreed to forfeit the proceeds from their criminal activity, and both are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 21, the Justice Department said.
Bron: Reuters