US Resident Charged With FCPA Violations Involving Oil in Ecuador
A Mexican citizen who lives in the U.S. was charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for his alleged involvement in an international bribery and money laundering scheme. Javier Aguilar, a trader at the U.S. subsidiary of a multinational oil distributor, allegedly paid $870,000 worth of bribes to Ecuadorian officials, the Justice Department said Sept. 22.
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Between 2015 and 2021, Aguilar and others worked to pay and hide bribes to Ecuadorian officials to obtain and retain business for Aguilar’s employer, which the Justice Department did not name. The bribes included payments to officials at Empresa Publica de Hidrocarburos del Ecuador, Ecuador’s national oil company. Through bribes, Aguilar eventually secured a $300 million contract with a different state-owned entity, Justice alleged. To hide the payments, Aguilar and others used “sham consulting agreements between bribe paying intermediaries and offshore shell companies.” Aguilar’s company paid funds into the accounts belonging to the shell companies, all the while knowing they would be used to pay bribes to the government officials, the Justice Department said.