Cary Yan and Gina Zhou, two Marshall Islands nationals charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arrived in the U.S. Sept. 2 after being extradited from Thailand, the DOJ announced Sept. 2. The pair is charged with violating the FCPA, money laundering and conspiracy in a scheme to bribe elected officials in the Marshall Islands to get certain legislation passed. The August 2020 five-count indictment charged Yan and Zhou with one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and one count of committing international money laundering.
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A Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case showed the limits that a request under a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) can have for tolling a statute of limitations, two Holland & Knight attorneys said in an Aug. 29 blog post. The attorneys, Wifredo Ferrer and Gary Klubok, wrote that a recent district court decision tossing four counts of FCPA and other violation allegations on the grounds that the government cannot use multiple MLATs as a tool to extend tolling offers lessons for defense attorneys: criteria for when MLAT tolling orders end, and that MLAT tolling is offense-specific and not person-specific.
Rixon Rafael Moreno Oropeza, a Venezuelan national and businessman, was charged with making bribe payments and money laundering in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. Per the indictment returned to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Moreno laundered the money made from inflated procurement contracts that were received by making bribes to senior executives at Petropiar -- a joint venture of Venezuela's state-owned energy company and an American oil company.
The U.S. is investigating at least 100 cases involving violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, an FCPA Blog post said Aug. 22. The blog, which pulled data from FCPA Tracker, said 20 new active investigations have been disclosed since the start of 2020, including four companies involved in the oil and gas industry, two defense contractors, two medical device makers and two telecommunications companies. Half the 20 new disclosures came from companies based in the U.S.
Guillermo Christensen, former office managing partner at Ice Miller, has joined K&L Gates as a partner in the antitrust, competition and trade regulation practice, the firm announced. Christensen's practice centers on advising clients on matters involving economic sanctions, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and export controls. In the past, Christensen has also represented clients in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases, OFAC investigations and voluntary disclosures. Before becoming a lawyer, Christensen worked for the CIA for 15 years in various assignments, including in interagency roles with the Defense and State departments.
Ivan Komaritsky, former corporate regulatory attorney at DLA Piper, has joined Rimon PC as counsel in the New York office, the firm announced. Komaritsky's practice centers around Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and U.S. economic sanctions matters. Throughout his career, Komaritsky has conducted internal investigations and FCPA corporate audits in countries around the globe, including in Russia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, the firm said.
Esteban Eduardo Merlo Hidaglo, a Florida resident, and Christian Patricio Pintado Garcia and Luis Lenin Maldonado Matute, both Ecuadorian citizens, were charged for their alleged roles in a bribery and money laundering scheme to get business from Ecuadorian state-owned insurance firms, DOJ announced. Charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the defendants allegedly paid bribes to officials at Seguras Sucre S.A. and Seguras Rocafuerte S.A. -- the state-run insurance companies -- to retain business for themselves, an intermediary company and reinsurance clients, court documents show.
Dwight Draughon Jr., former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, rejoined Steptoe & Johnson as a partner in the Washington, D.C.-based white-collar defense group, the firm announced. During his stint as Assistant U.S. Attorney, Draughon prosecuted a host of white collar crimes, including "wire, bank, and procurement fraud, public corruption, hate crimes, firearm trafficking, and numerous other federal offenses," Steptoe said. At Steptoe, the firm said Draughon will focus on public corruption, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and fraud matters. Before joining the U.S. Attorney's office, Draughon worked as an associate for two years at Steptoe.
Financial asset managers Ralph Steinmann of Switzerland and Luis Fernando Vuteff of Argentina have been charged with money laundering in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scheme involving Venezuela's state-owned energy company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVS), the DOJ announced. Steinmann and Vuteff face up to 20 years in prison for their role in a $1.2 billion international scheme. According to court documents, the two conspired with others in a bribery scheme using the U.S. financial system and international bank accounts from 2014 to 2018. Steinmann, Vuteff and others allegedly agreed to create a laundering mechanism to launder $200 million from the scheme and to open bank accounts on behalf of two Venezuelan public officials to receive the bribe payments, the DOJ said.