As long as political actors have existed, political actors have taken credit for filling a perceived legal gap by enacting new laws.
Time will tell of course, but query whether the recently enacted Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) (a law which seeks to capture the so-called “demand” side of foreign bribery) was even needed.
As has been discussed on these pages over the last several years when various versions of FEPA were introduced in Congress, the Department of Justice already has several criminal statutes available to prosecute alleged “foreign officials” who receive bribes and has been prosecuting such cases for a long time.
This prior post highlighted two recent examples and this post highlights yet another example.
Earlier this week, the DOJ announced that Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni (the former Comptroller General of Ecuador) was convicted by a federal jury in Miami “for his role in a multimillion-dollar international bribery and money laundering scheme.”
The release states:
“According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2010 to 2015 Polit solicited and received over $10 million in bribe payments from Odebrecht S.A., the Brazil-based construction conglomerate. Polit, in his position as Comptroller General of Ecuador, was responsible for protecting public funds against fraud and rooting out corruption. Instead, Polit took bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for removing fines and not imposing fines on Odebrecht’s projects in Ecuador. Additionally, in or around 2015, Polit received a bribe from an Ecuadorian businessman in exchange for assisting the businessman with obtaining certain contracts with the state-owned insurance company of Ecuador.
[…]
From in or around 2010 and continuing until at least 2017, at the direction of Polit, another member of the conspiracy caused proceeds of Polit’s bribery scheme to “disappear” by using Florida companies registered in the names of friends and associates, often without the associates’ knowledge. The conspirators also used funds from Polit’s bribery scheme to purchase and renovate real estate in Florida.”
In the release, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri stated:
“As Comptroller General of Ecuador, Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni was entrusted to protect the people of Ecuador from the misuse of public funds. Instead, Polit abused his position as a public official by soliciting and pocketing over $10 million in bribes and then laundering the illicit funds in Miami. The Criminal Division is committed to ensuring that the United States is not a safe haven for the illicit funds of corrupt officials.”
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida stated:
“This verdict is a reminder of our office’s firm commitment to investigating and prosecuting corrupt foreign officials who bring their criminally obtained funds to South Florida to buy real estate.”
Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami stated:
“This conviction shows that despite your wealth, title, or influence, nobody is above the law. HSI and its partners on the El Dorado Financial Crimes Task Forces will continue to pursue corrupt foreign officials who utilize their official positions for their own illicit gain”.
As noted in the DOJ release:
“The jury convicted Polit of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, three counts of concealment money laundering, and two counts of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property. A sentencing date has not yet been set. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Odebrecht S.A. pleaded guilty in December 2016 in the Eastern District of New York to conspiring to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with a broader scheme to pay nearly $800 million in bribes to public officials in 12 countries, including Ecuador.”
