As highlighted in this prior post, in February 2023 the DOJ announced that “Glenn Oztemel (who worked as a senior oil and gas trader at two Connecticut-based trading companies (Trading Company #1 and Trading Company #2) and Eduardo Innecco (a dual Brazilian and Italian citizen who worked as an oil and gas broker and agent for Trading Company #1 and Trading Company #2 in Brazil) were charged with FCPA and related offenses for an alleged Brazil bribery scheme.
In summary fashion, the indictment alleged:
“Between in or about 2010 and continuing until in or about 2018, Glenn Oztemel and Eduardo Innecco, together and with others, agreed to pay, and did pay, bribes to foreign officials at Brazil’s state-owned and state-controlled oil and gas company, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petro bras (“Petrobras”), on behalf of Trading Company #1 and Trading Company #2. In exchange for the bribes, foreign officials at Petrobras, including Rodrigo Berkowitz (“Berkowitz”), who has been charged separately, provided Oztemel, Innecco and others with confidential information related to Petrobras’s business. The inside information and other improper assistance Berkowitz provided to Oztemel, Innecco and others gave Trading Company #1 and Trading Company #2 improper business advantages in trades with Petrobras.
To conceal the scheme, Innecco used coded language in his communications with Oztemel to refer to bribes and bribe amounts. In addition, Oztemel, Innecco and their co-conspirators used personal email accounts, fictitious names, and encrypted messaging applications to communicate in furtherance of the scheme, particularly regarding the confidential Petrobras information they received from Berkowitz.
In furtherance of and to promote the corrupt bribery scheme, Oztemel and Innecco, together and with others, agreed to and did cause employees of Trading Company #1 and Trading Company #2, located in the District of Connecticut, to transmit the corrupt payments from bank accounts in the United States to and through bank accounts in Switzerland and Uruguay. The payments were made pursuant to invoices sent from Innecco to Oztemel and others, which sought payment for purported consulting fees and commissions.
Inneco paid a portion of the money he received from Trading Company #1 and Trading Company #2 to Berkowitz and others as bribes. The bribes were paid into a bank account in Uruguay and in cash.”
According to the indictment, Oztemel, Innecco and others used coded language to refer to other individuals in the bribery scheme and used coded language to refer to bribes and bribe amounts including terms such as “breakfast” and “breakfast servings.”
Oztemel and Innecco were each charged with conspiracy to violate the FCPA, conspiracy to commit money laundering, three counts of violating the FCPA, and two counts of money laundering.
Earlier this week the DOJ announced that Glenn Oztemel’s brother – Gary Oztemel (the owner and president of Oil Trade & Transport S.A. (OTT) and the owner of Petro Trade Services Inc. (Petro Trade) – was also criminally charged in connection with the same bribery scheme. Similar to the other defendants, Gary Oztemel is charged with conspiracy to violate the FCPA, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of money laundering.
