Yesterday, the DOJ announced criminal charges against Jorge Cherrez Mino (pictured) and John Robert Luzuriaga Aguinaga in connection with a bribery scheme in Ecuador.
According to this criminal complaint, Cherrez (a citizen of Ecuador who is currently located in Mexico) served as the manager, president, and director of the “U.S. Investment Fund Companies” (a domestic concern under the FCPA).
According to this separate criminal complaint, Luzuriaga (a citizen of Ecuador who is currently located in Florida) served as the Risk Director for Instituto de Seguridad Social de la Policia Nacional (“ISSPOL” – an Ecuadorian public institution responsible for managing the financial contributions by Ecuadorian police officers toward their social security). The complaint alleges that “ISSPOL was controlled by the government of Ecuador and performed a function that Ecuador treated as its own, and was an ‘instrumentality’ of the Ecuadorian government.”)
Even though the Cherrez complaint provides a jurisdictional basis for FCPA anti-bribery offenses and indeed alleges that Cherrez violated the FCPA, the Cherrez and Luzuriaga complaints charge money laundering offenses.
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