Insight On The Pintado Matter
This post is from Andrew Feldman (Feldman Firm PLLC).
Since President Trump issued the Executive Orders “pausing” the enforcement of the FCPA, lots of large law firms decried the potential end of the FCPA and worried that there would be a steep decline in FCPA investigations and prosecutions. Attorney General Pam Bondi had also emphasized that the FCPA should be used to prosecute narcotraffickers, not foreign nationals engaged in extraterritorial conduct which poses no threat to American interests.
In mid-March of this year and in the heart of this FCPA pause panic, the government travelled to Costa Rica to extradite the Firm’s client, Cristian Patricio Pintado Garcia. Mr. Pintado is an Ecuadorian national with no status in the United States who had been indicted in 2022 for violations of the FCPA and money laundering. Mr Pintado had been languishing in a Costa Rican prison since August of last year when he was arrested shortly after traveling from Ecuador.
Individual Pleads Guilty In Connection With Prior FCPA Enforcement Actions Involving Ecuador
This prior post discussed the many FCPA (and related) enforcement actions concerning Ecuador’s Seguros Sucre S.A. (“Seguros Sucre”), an alleged state-owned insurance company and “instrumentality” of the Ecuadorian government.
Among the enforcement actions were criminal charges announced by the DOJ in 2022 against Esteban Eduardo Merlo Hidalgo, Christian Patricio Pintado Garcia, and Luis Lenin Maldonado Matute.
Merlo was described as an Ecuadorian and U.S. dual citizen residing in Miami who operated and controlled Intermediary Company (a term that collectively refers to two companies that were registered in Panama and Ecuador, operated in Miami, Florida, and acted as intermediaries for reinsurance companies). Merlo was described as a “domestic concern” in FCPA speak.
Another Enforcement Action Involving Ecuador’s Seguros Sucre
From time to time, there are certain Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions in which the core allegations just seem to “keep on giving” and spawn several related enforcement actions.
A prime example were the many FCPA (and related) enforcement actions involving Haiti Teleco from approximately ten years ago (see here) and the many recent enforcement actions concerning Venezuela’s PDVSA.
Enforcement actions concerning Ecuador’s Seguros Sucre S.A. (“Seguros Sucre”), an alleged state-owned insurance company and “instrumentality” of the Ecuadorian government are beginning to add up.