This week trial begins in U.S. v. Asante Berko (a former Executive Director of Goldman Sachs International) before Judge Diane Gujarati (E.D.N.Y.).
The trial is believed to be just the 27th FCPA jury trial in the FCPA’s nearly 50 years.
In terms of background, as highlighted in this prior post, in 2020, the SEC announced the filing of a civil complaint charging Asante Berko with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations and other charges for “orchestrating a bribery scheme to help a client [a Turkish energy company] win a government contract to build and operate an electrical power plant” in Ghana.
Berko publicly denied the SEC’s allegations and the SEC sought court approval to serve the summons and complaint via e-mail and through his U.S. counsel. Ultimately settlement negotiations commenced and in mid-2021 Berko agreed to resolve the matter. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, Berko agreed to pay $329,163.92 (disgorgement of $275,000 along with prejudgment interest of $54,163.92). The final judgment also permanently restrained and enjoined Berko from violating, directly or indirectly, the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.
As highlighted in this prior post, in late 2022 Berko was arrested in London in connection with a six count August 2020 indictment alleging that he conspired “with at least two Ghanaian officials and four others in a bribery scheme that benefited Goldman, himself and a Turkish energy company that sought to build a power plant in the African nation.”
In other words, the same core conduct alleged in the prior SEC enforcement action which Berko resolved in 2021.
In July 2024, the DOJ announced that Berko was extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States. As stated in the DOJ release: “Berko is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), one count of violating the FCPA, and one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.”
The DOJ’s statement of the case is as follows.
“The defendant Asante Kwaku Berko is charged with participating in a scheme to bribe government officials in Ghana. Specifically, the government alleges that between approximately December 2014 and March 2017, Berko, a dual citizen of the United States and Ghana and an Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs, conspired (or agreed) with others to bribe Ghanaian government officials to approve the development and financing of a multi-million-dollar power plant in Ghana. In his role at Goldman Sachs, Berko was responsible for securing and managing a deal between Aksa Enerji Uretim AS (Aksa)—a Turkish energy company that was a client of Goldman Sachs—and the Republic of Ghana, for the construction and financing of a power plant. To finance, build and operate the power plant, Aksa needed, among other things, to secure an emergency power agreement (or EPA) with the government of Ghana, which required approvals from Ghanaian officials and government entities. The government alleges that the defendant and others agreed to bribe Ghanaian officials to obtain these necessary approvals. The government further alleges that payments in furtherance of the bribery scheme were laundered through U.S. bank accounts. Based on these allegations, the defendant is charged in a three-count indictment with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (also known as the FCPA), violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.”
Berko is represented by WilmerHale attorneys Robert Boone, Amanda Masselam Strachan and others.
