Berko Convicted Of FCPA And Related Offenses
In the latest example of the Trump administration’s retreat from FCPA enforcement (or some still maintain), earlier today Asante Berko (a former Executive Director of Goldman Sachs International) was convicted by a jury of FCPA and related offenses in connection with a Ghana bribery scheme after a trial in the E.D. of New York.
As reported here: “after deliberating for approximately three hours, a jury of four women and eight men found Berko, 52, guilty of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, conspiracy to do the same, and money laundering conspiracy.”
The trial was believed to be just the 27th FCPA jury trial in the FCPA’s nearly 50 years and the 4th FCPA trial since September 2025.
Berko Trial Begins
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.
Judge Acquits Rovirosa “He Is ORDERED Released”
This morning, Ramon Alexandro Rovirosa Martinez woke up in federal prison where he has been held since early December 2025 after being found guilty of FCPA and related offenses in connection with alleged Mexican bribery scheme.
As reported here, the trial featured no fact witnesses which led the judge to block the government from introducing most of its evidence until their closing argument.
Earlier today (as shown in the picture), Roviorsa was released as U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Hoyt (S.D. Texas) granted his motion to dismiss the criminal indictment and granted his motion for acquittal.
For prior posts on the case, including the bizarre trial, and post trial briefs see here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Judge Hoyt’s Memorandum and Order Dismissing the Indictment and Granting an Acquittal provides the following background:
Judge To Toss Rovirosa Conviction
In December 2025, Ramon Alexandro Rovirosa Martinez was found guilty after a bizarre trial of various charges in connection with an alleged Mexican bribery scheme. (See here for the prior post).
As reported here, the trial featured no fact witnesses which led the judge to block the government from introducing most of its evidence until their closing argument.
Soon after the verdict, Rovirosa was taken into custody and has been in prison since.
Post-trial, Rovirosa filed a motion for a judgement of acquittal and among the reasons stated were the following:
(i) “the Government presented evidence to the jury that was either not properly admitted into evidence and/or that should not have been admitted into evidence;”
(ii) “the jury was provided with text messages to and from alleged co-conspirators that were never properly admitted into evidence, and the Government never offered evidence to satisfy any legal exception to the hearsay rule;” and
(iii) “the jury was provided with testimonial translations of text messages with no testimony by the translator, despite defense counsel’s request and objection, in violation of the Confrontation Clause.”
Judge Grants Zaglin Request For A Federal Prisoner To Appear As A Witness During Hearing On A New Trial
An interesting sequence of events.
As highlighted in this prior post, in September 2025 a jury found Carl Zaglin guilty of FCPA and related offenses for his role in bribery schemes involving Honduran government officials to secure contracts to provide uniforms and other goods to the Honduran National Police.
In December 2025, Zaglin was sentenced to 8 years in prison. (See here).
Shortly thereafter, Zaglin filed a Second Motion for a New Trial asserting that a co-Defendant Aldo Nestor Marchena (Marchena) testified falsely against him in his trial. In connection with the same core action, Marchena had previosuly pleaded guilty and following the Zaglin trial, the DOJ filed a motion for departure seeking a 40% reduction in Marchena’s sentence for providing substantial cooperation.