This prior post highlighted an August DOJ FCPA enforcement action concerning an alleged bribery scheme in Mexico.
The indictment charges Ramon Alexandro Rovirosa Martinez (a citizen of Mexico and a lawful permanent resident of Texas) and Mario Alberto Avila Lizarraga (a citizen of Mexico and lawful permanent resident of Texas) for their roles in an alleged bribery scheme to retain and obtain business related to Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), the state-owned oil company of Mexico, and PEMEX Exploración y Producción (PEP), PEMEX’s wholly owned exploration and production subsidiary.
Last week, the DOJ concurred with a defense request to a severance given that Avila “is a fugitive from justice in Mexico with no known return date” and stated that “moving ahead with trial against Rovirosa is the most prudent course of action at this time.”
Pending before the court are various motions including a defense motion to dismiss based on statute of limitations (see here for the prior post).
Yesterday, the DOJ filed its response and its states in summary fashion:
“On August 6, 2025, the Grand Jury returned the Indictment in this case, charging Rovirosa and Mario Alberto Avila Lizarraga (“Avila,” and, together with Rovirosa, “Defendants”) each with three counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA. Rovirosa’s Motion to Dismiss argues that the charges alleged in the Indictment are time-barred because (1) a five-year statute of limitations applied to the charged substantive counts and alleged overt acts of the conspiracy that took place in 2019 and 2020; and (2) the alleged overt acts that occurred in 2021 should not properly be considered part of the charged conspiracy. Rovirosa’s arguments mischaracterize the law and the facts, and the Motion to Dismiss should be denied.
Rovirosa’s arguments fail on the merits. First, and most importantly, all of the conduct is actionable because, in August 2024, the Government properly obtained an order from the district court (Hanks, J.) that tolled the statute of limitations pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3292. That provision
authorizes tolling when the government seeks evidence from a foreign country (in this case, Mexico). The tolling application and the underlying document requests fit squarely within the framework imposed by Section 3292. The application, which named Avila and Rovirosa, described the nature of the scheme and the potential crimes being investigated and outlined the exact categories of corporate and financial records the Government sought from Mexico. Those records—some of which were provided as recently as a few weeks ago—are highly relevant to the ongoing investigation and corroborate other evidence against Rovirosa and Avila. As just one example, the records included bank statements detailing the actual payment flows and the cash withdrawals that the co-conspirators used to make the bribe payments. The probative nature of these materials—the literal receipts for the bribes—is self-evident. In sum, the tolling order was duly authorized, and the charges in the Indictment are not time-barred by the statute of limitations.Second, as to the October 2021 messages discussed in the Indictment, Fifth Circuit caselaw is clear that a conspiracy remains in effect until every member of the conspiracy withdraws. Importantly, the October 2021 text messages were clearly part and parcel of the underlying scheme—i.e., to corruptly offer and pay bribes to Mexican government officials to obtain and retain business for companies associated with Rovirosa. As a result, even without the tolling order, overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy took place within the five-year statute of limitations period, and the conspiracy charge (Count One) remains valid.”
