Willbros Wins Final Dismissal

Willbros Group, Inc. said in an SEC filing that the FCPA charges against it were formally dismissed this month.

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The Hard Timers

Compliance officers will want to keep a copy of the table below close at hand. What better way to answer those who insist that the FCPA is small potatoes, after all, when you look at the relatively few enforcement actions over the past 33 years.

Here are the 22 men (no women so far), most of them former company executives, who've spent time in prison for FCPA-related convictions. Each name that follows represents a terrible tragedy, often with permanent damage extending to families. As the compiler of the list said: "By my count there have been 187 people charged with violating the FCPA. This list will look a little different at the end of the year."

We'd like to thank the generous individual responsible for this post, but that's not possible. He or she has asked to remain anonymous, making this contribution pro bono publico.

The information is compiled from the Federal Bureau of Prisons' inmate locator. Readers with suggestions and corrections are welcome to let us know.

Name	Related Company	Register #	Age Race Sex	Release Date	Location
FERNANDO MAYA BASURTO	ABB Ltd	39135-177	48-White-M	UNKNOWN	HOUSTON FDC
CHARLES PAUL EDWARD JUMET	Ports Engineering Consultants Corporation	75638-083	53-White-M	UNKNOWN	NOT IN BOP CUSTODY
SULEIMAN A NASSAR	Lockheed	45723-019	73-White-M	11/19/1996	RELEASED
DAVID H MEAD	Saybolt	79529-079	72-White-M	7/21/1999	RELEASED
HERBERT STEINDLER	General Electric	02423-061	71-White-M	3/13/2000	RELEASED
HERBERT LAWRENCE TANNENBAUM	Tanner Management Corp	82537-054	85-White-M	4/20/2000	RELEASED
RICHARD G PITCHFORD	Central Asia American Enterprise Fund	26036-016	75-White-M	12/4/2003	RELEASED
ROBERT RICHARD KING	Owl Securities and Investments	14447-045	76-White-M	6/30/2006	RELEASED
STEVEN LYNWOOD HEAD	Titan	95321-198	63-White-M	9/29/2008	RELEASED
YAW OSEI AMOAKO	ITXC Corporation	60267-050	58-Black-M	12/17/2008	RELEASED
PAUL GRAYSON NOVAK	Willbros	43505-279	43-White-M	12/19/2008	RELEASED
ROGER MICHAEL YOUNG	ITXC Corporation	29574-016	49-White-M	4/10/2009	RELEASED
STEVEN JOSEPH OTT	ITXC Corporation	60540-050	50-White-M	6/17/2009	RELEASED
RAMENDRA BASU	World Bank	29254-016	47-White-M	8/7/2009	RELEASED
FAHEEM MOUSA SALAM		28567-016	32-White-M	1/7/2010	RELEASED
MISAO HIOKI	Bridgestone	90290-111	56-Asian-M	11/23/2010	LOMPOC USP
DAVID KAY	American Rice	13749-179	58-White-M	1/27/2011	TEXARKANA FCI
JIM BOB BROWN	Willbros	66158-179	48-White-M	1/29/2011	ATLANTA USP
CHRISTIAN SAPSIZIAN	Alcatel SA	78172-004	63-White-M	3/18/2011	NE OHIO CORR CTR CI
JASON EDWARD STEPH	Willbros	36444-177	40-White-M	3/28/2011	EL RENO FCI
DOUGLAS MURPHY	American Rice	13987-179	53-White-M	12/31/2012	EL RENO FCI
SHU QUAN-SHENG	AMAC International	58250-083	69-Asian-M	2/18/2013	LA TUNA FCI

Prison For Ex-Willbros Execs

FCPA violations: The Justice Department is targeting individuals who pay bribes to foreign officials. Photo by Ken MayerTwo former Willbros managers on Thursday were given jail time for conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. They bribed foreign government officials and employees of state-owned firms to win pipeline work and gain other advantages.

Jim Bob Brown, 48, was sentenced in federal court in Houston to one year and one day in prison and fined $17,500; Jason Edward Steph, 40, was sentenced to 15 months and fined $2,000.

Steph, who once served as general manager of on-shore operations for Willbros International, pleaded guilty in November 2007. He said in his plea that in 2005 he, Brown, and others arranged to pay about $1.8 million in cash to Nigerian officials.

Brown pleaded guilty in September 2006 to conspiracy to violate the FCPA. He and Steph cooperated with the government’s investigation.

Brown said from 1996 to 2004, he and others plotted to negotiate lower Nigerian federal and state taxes in exchange for bribes to revenue officials. And he admitted conspiring to make corrupt payments to officials in the Nigerian court system in exchange for favorable treatment on pending cases. Brown also paid at least $300,000 in bribes to Ecuadorian government officials from PetroEcuador and PetroCommercial in exchange for contracts. The DOJ said all the payments violated the FCPA's antibribery provisions.

In May 2008, Willbros Group and its subsidiary Willbros International paid $22 million and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ to settle criminal FCPA charges in connection with corrupt payments to Nigerian and Ecuadorian officials. Willbros Group also paid $10.3 million (disgorgement of $8.9 million, plus prejudgment interest of $1.4 million) to resolve the SEC's civil enforcement action.

In December 2008, another former executive and an ex-consultant of Willbros International Inc. were charged in the case. Consultant Paul G. Novak, 43, pleaded guilty in November 2009 to conspiracy to violate the FCPA. He's scheduled to be sentenced on February 19. James K. Tillery, 49, a former Willbros International executive, was also charged but remains at large.

In May 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Steph and former employees Gerald Jansen, Lloyd Biggers, and Carlos Galvez with aiding and abetting Willbros Group's violation of the antibribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the FCPA, and knowingly circumventing the FCPA's internal controls and books and records provisions. All four consented to permanent injunctions, with Jansen and Galvez ordered to pay civil penalties of $30,000 and $35,000 respectively. Determination of Steph's civil penalty was deferred pending his sentencing in the criminal case.

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Substantive FCPA violations and conspiracy to violate the FCPA both carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Here are some recent FCPA-related sentences:

• In November last year, Frederic Bourke, who was convicted at trial, was sentenced to a year and day in jail for conspiracy.

• David Kay and Douglas Murphy started serving their sentences last year for substantive FCPA violations. They were convicted at trial and sentenced to 37 months and 63 months respectively.

• In April 2009, Virginia-based physicist Shu Quan-Sheng was sentenced to 51 months in prison. He pleaded guilty in November 2008 to one count of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and two counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act.

• In September 2008, two former executives from telecoms company ITXC Corporation avoided prison. Roger Michael Young was sentenced to five years probation with three months home confinement after he pleaded guilty in July 2007 to violating the FCPA and the Travel Act. Steven J. Ott also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years probation with six months in a community confinement center and six months home confinement.

• Also in September 2008, Albert "Jack" Stanley, KBR's former CEO, pleaded guilty to a two-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. He agreed to a seven year jail term with a chance for reduction based on his cooperation. 

• In  April 2008, a former World Bank employee, Ramendra Basu, received 15 months in prison for conspiring to award World Bank contracts to consultants in exchange for kickbacks and for helping a contractor bribe a foreign official. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and to violating the FCPA.

A copy of the DOJ's January 28, 2010 release is here.

See our prior posts about Willbros and its personnel here.

Four Await January Sentencing

Hollywood movie producers Gerald and Patricia Green: They may soon become the first husband and wife sentenced for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. Prosecutors want Gerald Green to spend the rest of his life in prison.Federal sentencing dates often slip. But if theirs hold, four defendants in FCPA cases will learn their fates this month:

Gerald and Patricia Green -- January 21, 2010.

Jim Bob Brown -- January 28, 2010.

Jason Edward Steph -- January 28, 2010.

If all of them are sentenced on schedule, this will be the biggest sentencing month ever for individuals in cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

This month could also see the longest sentence handed out to an FCPA defendant. Under the federal guidelines, Gerald Green, 77, is facing between 20 and 25 years in prison; the government wants him sentenced to life in prison.

And this may be the month when the first married couple -- Gerald Green and his wife Patricia -- are sentenced for FCPA violations. (Stuart Carson and his wife, Hong Rose Carson, face FCPA charges in another pending case.)

Mario Covino and Richard Morlok were scheduled to be sentenced on January 25 but their dates have been reset to February 14, 2010. 

See related posts Their Days Are Numbered and Make That Sixteen.

Sentencing Watch List

Let's update the list of individuals waiting to be sentenced for violating or conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Since October, Frederic Bourke and William Jefferson have been sentenced and come off the list. Charles Jumet, Paul Novak, and Fernando Maya Basurto have entered guilty pleas are are added to it. Juan Diaz was to be sentenced on November 13 but the court reset his date. A reader also let us know that Si Chan Wooh, the former head of Schnitzer Steel's international subsidiary, who pleaded guilty in June 2007 to conspiracy to violate the FCPA, is scheduled to be sentenced next year in federal court in Oregon. So the list now stands at 18. 

Here they are:

Fernando Maya Basurto -- no date given.

Jim Bob Brown -- January 28, 2010

Joshua Cantor -- no date given.

Mario Covino -- January 25, 2010

Juan Diaz -- January 29, 2010

Thomas Farrell -- no date given.

Gerald and Patricia Green -- December 17, 2009

Charles Paul Edward Jumet -- February 12, 2010

Clayton Lewis -- no date given.

Joseph T. Lukas -- April 6, 2010

Richard Morlok -- January 25, 2010

Paul G. Novak -- February 19, 2010

Antonio Perez -- October 6, 2009. [No sentencing reported and no resetting of the sentencing date shown in the court docket.]

Si Chan Wooh -- April 26, 2010

 Leo Winston Smith -- December 18, 2009

Albert "Jack" Stanley -- February 24, 2010

Jason Edward Steph -- January 28, 2010

Let us know if we're still missing anyone or if other sentencing dates have changed.

*   *   *   

Words we like.  From Abraham Lincoln, October 1858:

It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.

Novak Pleads Guilty

A former consultant for a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc. pleaded guilty on November 12 to paying $6 million in bribes to officials who worked in the Nigerian government, in government-owned companies, and in a political party there. Paul G. Novak, 43, pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one substantive count of violating the FCPA. He's scheduled to be sentenced on February 19, 2010.

The bribes were intended to help Willbros win and keep contracts for the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) Project, worth about $387 million. The project was a natural gas pipeline system in the Niger Delta.

Novak, along with alleged co-conspirators James Kenneth Tillery, Jason Steph, Jim Bob Brown and three employees from a German construction company based in Mannheim, Germany, agreed to make the corrupt payments to, among others, government officials from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a senior official in the executive branch of the federal government of Nigeria, members of a Nigerian political party and officials from the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd.

To fund the bribes, Steph and others used a Willbros' subsidiary, Willbros West Africa Inc. (WWA), to enter into agreements with two consulting companies Novak represented. Without providing any services, the consulting companies would invoice WWA and be paid from Willbros' bank account in Houston to accounts in Lebanon. Novak then used money from the Lebanese accounts to bribe the Nigerian officials.

In addition to Novak, two Willbros employees have pleaded guilty in the case and Willbros has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement:

On September 14, 2006, Jim Bob Brown, a former Willbros executive, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, for his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract and for making corrupt payments in Ecuador. Brown's sentencing is currently scheduled for January 28, 2010.

On November 5, 2007, Jason Steph, also a former Willbros executive, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, for making corrupt payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract. Steph's sentencing is also scheduled for January 28, 2010. See our post here.

On May 14, 2008, Willbros Group Inc. and Willbros International Inc. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $22 million criminal penalty, for the illegal payments to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador. See our post here.

James K. Tillery was charged, along with Novak, for his alleged role in the bribery scheme in an indictment unsealed on December 19, 2008. According to the indictment, Tillery was a Willbros employee and executive from the 1980s through January 2005. He remains a fugitive. See our post here.

Download the DOJ's November 12, 2009 release here.

On The Subject Of Resources

We've mentioned before Dan Newcomb's FCPA Digest, calling it the most definitive publicly-available catalog of FCPA prosecutions, enforcement actions and disclosed investigations. So it's great to see the release of the March 2009 version, available here.

This year, Philip Urofsky becomes editor-in-chief. He told us last week, "In this Digest, we entirely scrapped the previous Trends & Patterns, which had largely become a statistical update, and replaced it with a more analytical piece." The T&P section has always been a favorite of ours, and this year's new-and-improved version (available here) didn't disappoint.

About the prosecution of individuals, for example, it said:

More recently, there is a strong trend of actions against individuals being brought separately or even in advance of charges against their employers and then, in all likelihood, following classic prosecutorial strategy of working up the chain of command, using the individuals to build the government’s case against their superiors and eventually the company. In Willbros, the DOJ charged four employees over a two-year period, with two pleading in previous years (Steph and Brown) and an indictment being returned against two others (Tillery and Novak) in February 2008. Finally, in May 2008, Willbros Group and Willbros International agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement. Similarly, the DOJ entered into a plea agreement with the former CEO of KBR, Stanley, in 2008, well in advance of settling the matter with Halliburton/KBR in early 2009.

And concerning disgorgement, a topic we recently talked about here, it said:

A final trend and pattern worth noting is the SEC’s continued demand for disgorgement of ill-gotten profits in cases in which only books & records violations are charged, such as in the [oil for food] cases. Whether or not a false entry in a company’s books and records (or a failure to implement adequate internal controls) truly results in increased profits is open to question. To date, however, no FCPA defendant has publicly challenged the SEC on whether disgorgement is appropriate when the sole charge is false books and records. Prior to the ABB case in 2004, the SEC had never collected disgorgement in FCPA cases; since then it has sought it in virtually every case with only a few exceptions, such as Dow Chemical, Delta & Pine Land, Lucent, and Conway. In Tyco, the SEC collected $1 in ill-gotten gains (along with $50 million in penalties related to other violations). While this is an isolated example of the SEC seeking such nominal disgorgement, the case does underscore the overall policy of levying disgorgement sanctions in nearly all cases against issuers.

We spend a lot of time in the FCPA Digest. And whenever we turn to it, we're grateful for the hard work and generosity of founding-editor Dan Newcomb, Philip Urofsky and their entire team.
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Two More Ex-Willbros Workers Charged

The Justice Department's aggressive enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against individuals continues. On Friday, a former executive and an ex-consultant of Willbros International Inc., a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc., were charged in connection with a conspiracy to bribe government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador. Former consultant Paul G. Novak, 41, was arrested on arrival at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. He was returned to the United States from Constantia, South Africa after his U.S. passport was revoked. James K. Tillery, 49, the former Willbros International executive, remains at large.

An indictment unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Houston charges Novak and Tillery with conspiring to bribe Nigerian and Ecuadorian government officials to obtain and retain gas pipeline construction and rehabilitation business from state-owned oil companies in those countries. Tillery and Novak face one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA in connection with the authorization of specific corrupt payments to officials in Nigeria and Ecuador, and one count of conspiring to launder the bribe payments through purported consulting companies controlled by Novak.

If convicted of all charges, they each face up to 35 years in prison and fines of the greater of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain or loss from the FCPA offenses and, for the money laundering conspiracy, $500,000 or twice the value of the funds involved in the transfer.

The indictment says Tillery was a Willbros International employee and executive from the 1980s through January 2005. From 2002 until January 2005, he served as executive vice president and later as president of the company. Novak was an employee in the mid-1990s and later worked as an oil and gas consultant in Nigeria, purporting to provide consulting services to companies in that field.

Tillery and Novak, along with a Nigerian working as a consultant and employees of a German engineering firm Willbros had partnered with, conspired to pay more than $6 million in return for a $387 million contract to construct Nigeria's Eastern Gas Gathering System, according to the indictment. From late 2003 to 2005, payments were made and others promised to Nigerian officials. The indictment also alleges that Tillery, Novak and other Willbros employees based in South America paid $300,000 to officials at the state-owned oil company in Ecuador, PetroEcuador, and its subsidiary PetroComercial, in exchange for a $3 million contract to refurbish a 16-mile gas pipeline between Santo Domingo and El Beaterio.

In May this year, Willbros Group and Willbros International paid $22 million and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ to settle criminal FCPA charges in connection with corrupt payments to Nigerian and Ecuadorian officials. Willbros Group also paid $10.3 million (disgorgement of $8.9 million, plus prejudgment interest of $1.4 million) to resolve the SEC's civil enforcement action. As part of the settlement, the Willbros companies have been cooperating with the DOJ's ongoing investigation.

In November 2007, Jason Edward Steph, 37, who once served as general manager of on-shore operations for Willbros International, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the FCPA by bribing Nigerian officials. Steph said that in February and March of 2005 he, former Willbros executive Jim Bob Brown, and others arranged to pay about $1.8 million in cash to the officials. Brown also pleaded guilty to a similar charge in September 2006. He and Steph are cooperating with the government’s investigation and are waiting to be sentenced.

In the May 2008 SEC complaint against Willbros Group, Steph and former employees Gerald Jansen, Lloyd Biggers, and Carlos Galvez were named for aiding and abetting Willbros Group's violation of the antibribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the FCPA, and knowingly circumventing the FCPA's internal controls and books and records provisions. All four consented to permanent injunctions, with Jansen and Galvez ordered to pay civil penalties of $30,000 and $35,000 respectively. Determination of Steph's civil penalty was deferred pending his sentencing in the criminal case.

Willbros Group, Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WG. It provides construction, engineering and other services to the oil and gas industry.
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Download the DOJ's Dec. 19, 2008 release regarding Paul G. Novak and James K. Tillery here.

Download the DOJ's indictment of Novak and Tillery here.

Download the DOJ's May 14, 2008 release regarding Willbros Group Inc. here.

View the SEC's Litigation Release No. 20571 (May 14, 2008) in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Willbros Group, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 4:08-CV-01494 U.S.D.C., Southern District of Texas (Houston Division) here.

Download the SEC's May 14, 2008 civil complaint against Willbros Group Inc., Jason Steph, Gerald Jansen, Lloyd Biggers and Carlos Galvez here.

Download the DOJ's November 5, 2007 release regarding Jason Edward Steph's guilty plea here.

Download Steph's November 5, 2007 Plea Agreement with the DOJ here.
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The Tally, Part 2

Following yesterday's post, several readers suggested that we mention any other FCPA-related cases, appeals, sentencings and enforcement actions during the past year involving individuals. It's a good idea, and our thanks go out to Marc and our other correspondents.

_______________

Our post Kozeny's Co-Defendant Wins Appeal (September 1, 2008) discusses Victor Kozeny, Frederic Bourke and David Pinkerton. They were indicted in May 2005 under the FCPA over an alleged plan to bribe officials from Azerbaijan. In June 2007 the trial court dismissed the charges, saying the government failed to indict within the FCPA's five-year statute of limitations. In October 2007, the Bahamas Supreme Court refused to order Kozeny's return to the U.S. to face trial. Pinkerton was dropped from the U.S. case in July 2008 after the government withdrew all charges against him. The Second Circuit then affirmed Bourke's dismissal because of the statute of limitations.

# # #

On May 15, 2008, Jason Edward Steph consented to entry of a permanent injunction with the SEC with a possible civil penalty to be determined. Gerald Jansen, another former Willbros executive in Nigeria, received a permanent injunction and a civil fine of $30,000, while Lloyd Biggers, a former Willbros employee in Nigeria, received a permanent injunction. Our post Willbros Resolves FCPA Offenses (May 15, 2008) said, "Also named in the SEC's complaint were Gerald Jansen, a former administrative supervisor in Nigeria; Lloyd Biggers, a former employee in Nigeria; and Carlos Galvez, a former accounting employee in Bolivia. The allegations included a scheme to pay $300,000 to officials of an Ecuadorean state-owned oil and gas company and to avoid paying taxes in Bolivia."

# # #

On January 10, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied a petition for rehearing en banc from David Kay and Douglas Murphy. The former executives of American Rice, Inc., were indicted under the FCPA in 2002 for bribing Haitian officials. The U.S. District Court in Houston dismissed the indictments, finding that the FCPA did not apply to their conduct -- i.e., paying bribes to reduce their company's taxes. In 2004, the Fifth Circuit held that the bribes alleged in the indictment could fall within the scope of the FCPA and remanded. At trial, Kay and Murphy were convicted of violating the FCPA. Kay was sentenced to 37 months in prison and Murphy to 63 months. They appealed, and in October 2007 the Fifth Circuit affirmed their convictions. They then filed a petition for rehearing en banc, which the Fifth Circuit denied. See our post U.S. v. Kay: Once More To The Courts (February 28, 2008).

On April 9, 2008, Kay and Murphy filed a petition for cert with the U.S. Supreme Court (available at scotusblog.com here). They're arguing among other things that the text, structure, and legislative history of the FCPA are all ambiguous with respect to the criminalization of the type of payments involved in the case. Therefore, they should have the benefit of the rule of lenity -- i.e., that any ambiguity in the FCPA should be construed against the government and in favor of the accused.

On May 12, 2008, two amicus briefs were filed in the case on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. They're available from scotusblog.com here.

# # #

On October 1, 2007, Oscar Wyatt Jr., 83, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the U.N. oil-for-food program. The U.S. Government accused him of paying millions in illegal surcharges directly to Iraqi officials in return for oil allocations from 2000 to 2002. He faces 18 to 24 months in prison under a plea agreement and will forfeit $11 million. He founded and ran Coastal Corporation, which he sold to El Paso Corporation in 2001. Though he wasn't charged under the FCPA, in February 2007, El Paso settled FCPA allegations related to illegal surcharges it paid to Iraqi officials under the oil-for-food program. See our post Oscar Wyatt, Founder Of Coastal Corporation, Pleads Guilty To Iraq Bribes (October 2, 2007).

# # #

On September 28, 2007, Steven Head, the former president of Titan Corporation’s Africa business, was sentenced to six months’ in prison, three years’ supervised release, and a fine of $5,000. He pleaded guilty in June 2006 to one count of falsifying a financial document. He was originally charged with paying $3.5 million in bribes to foreign officials in Benin. Titan pleaded guilty in March 2005 to violating the FCPA and aiding and abetting the filing of a false tax return.

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What's The Tally?

The Justice Department says it plans to prosecute more individuals under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act -- and send them to jail. We looked through our posts to see how men and women fared over the past year. Below are excerpts from posts dealing with those who've been criminally charged or sentenced under the FCPA, or settled enforcement actions with the SEC, or both, during the past twelve months. The titles link to the original posts.

More Individuals Indicted For FCPA Violations (September 8, 2008)

The Justice Department said it arrested four people last week on charges that they and their company bribed Vietnamese officials in exchange for contracts to supply equipment and technology to government agencies in Vietnam.

The DOJ said U.S. citizens Nam Nguyen, 52, of Houston; Joseph Lukas, 59, of Smithville, N.J.; Kim Nguyen, 39, of Philadelphia; and An Nguyen, 32, of Philadelphia were arrested after they, along with Nexus Technologies Inc., were indicted on Sept. 4, 2008, by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia on one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and four substantive counts of violating the FCPA.

# # #

Ex-KBR Boss Pleads Guilty (September 4, 2008)

The Justice Department said today that Albert “Jack” Stanley, 65, a former chairman and CEO of KBR, the global engineering and construction firm based in Houston, pleaded guilty to a two-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. He appeared in U.S. District Court in his hometown of Houston before U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison. . . .

Under the plea deal accepted by the court, Stanley faces seven years in prison and a restitution payment of $10.8 million.

# # #

Former Execs Avoid Hard Time (September 3, 2008)

Two former telecommunications executives who admitted bribing employees of state-owned companies in Africa and concealing the payments have avoided prison in exchange for their cooperation in an ongoing FBI investigation.

The Justice Department said yesterday that Roger Michael Young, 48, of Washington, D.C., a former managing director of ITXC Corporation, has been sentenced to five years probation, including three months home confinement, three months in a community confinement center, and a $7,000 fine. He pleaded guilty in July 2007 to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act.

Former ITXC Vice President Steven J. Ott, 49, of Princeton, N.J., who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced in July this year to five years probation, including six months in a community confinement center and six months home confinement. He was fined $10,000.

A third defendant in the case, Yaw Osei Amoako, 55, of Hillsborough, N.J., pleaded guilty in September 2006. He was sentenced in August 2007 to 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and a $7,500 fine.

# # #

FCPA Guilty Plea For Bribing UK Official (May 9, 2008)

A former co-owner and executive of California-based Pacific Consolidated Industries (PCI) pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Martin Eric Self, 51, of Orange, California pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with violating the FCPA by paying more than $70,000 in bribes to a U.K. Ministry of Defence official. The bribes were intended to secure equipment contracts with the U.K. Royal Air Force. . . .

Self is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on September 29, 2008. Although he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison per count, his plea agreement contemplates a prison term of eight months, subject to the court's final determination at sentencing.

# # #

Former ITXC Execs Settle Civil FCPA Charges (May 8, 2008)

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that on April 18, 2008 it settled civil proceedings under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against Steven J. Ott, Roger Michael Young, and Yaw Osei Amoako. The SEC charged the former executives of ITXC Corp. with violating the antibribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA by bribing senior officials of government-owned telephone companies in Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal, and concealing and falsely reporting the illegal payments.

In settling the SEC's civil enforcement action, Ott, Young and Amoako each consented to the entry of a final judgment that permanently enjoins them from violating Sections 30A and 13(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 13b2-1 thereunder, and from aiding and abetting violations of Exchange Act Section 13(b)(2)(A) and, with respect to Ott and Young, violations of Exchange Act Section 13(b)(2)(B). Amoako also must pay $188,453 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest. He took kickbacks for some of the bribes he paid to the foreign officials.

# # #

Ex-World Bank Manager Sentenced For FCPA Offense (April 28, 2008)

The Justice Department has announced the April 22, 2008 sentencing of former World Bank employee, Ramendra Basu. The Indian national and U.S. permanent resident received 15 months in prison for conspiring to award World Bank contracts to consultants in exchange for kickbacks and for helping a contractor bribe a foreign official in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In addition to the 15- month prison term, Basu was sentenced to two years supervised release and 50 hours of community service. U.S. v. Basu, (Cr. No. 02-475) D.D.C., November 2002.

# # #

That's Entertainment? (December 19, 2007)

Wow! It's not often -- never, in fact -- that we can talk about the LA movie scene and tap Variety as one of our sources. But here it is. The Department of Justice just announced that a Los Angeles film executive and his wife were arrested on allegations of making corrupt payments to a Thai government official in order to obtain lucrative contracts to run an international film festival in Bangkok, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Gerald Green, 75, and his wife Patricia Green, 52, both of Los Angeles, were arrested on a criminal complaint filed on Dec. 7, 2007, in federal court in Los Angeles and unsealed today. The complaint alleges that the Greens conspired to pay more than $1.7 million in bribes for the benefit of a government official with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in order to obtain the film festival contract and other contracts with the TAT worth more than $10 million.

[The Greens are awaiting trial.]

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Schnitzer's Former Boss Settles FCPA Charges (December 14, 2007)

The former chairman and ceo of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. resolved charges on December 13, 2007 brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Robert W. Philip, 60, of Portland, Oregon, will pay about $250,000 to settle charges that he violated the antibribery, books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA (Section 30A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1], Section13(b)(2)(A) [15 U.S.C. § 78m(b)(2)(A)], and Section 13(b)(2)(B) [15 U.S.C. § 78m(b)(2)(B)]). He served as Schnitzer's president beginning in 1991, as its chief executive officer from 2002, and as chairman from 2004. He left the company in May 2005.

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Another Former Willbros Executive Pleads Guilty (November 6, 2007)

Jason Edward Steph, 37, who once served as general manager of on-shore operations for a subsidiary of Willbros Group Inc., entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on November 5, 2007. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe officials of the government of Nigeria with more than $6 million -- in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Steph, of Sunset, Texas, was indicted on July 19, 2007. He now faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. . . .

Steph also said that in February and March of 2005 he, former Willbros executive Jim Bob Brown, and others arranged for the payment of approximately $1.8 million in cash to government officials in Nigeria. Brown pleaded guilty to a similar charge on Sept. 14, 2006. Steph and Brown are cooperating with the government’s ongoing investigation . . . .

[Steph and Brown are awaiting sentencing.]

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Syncor's Founder Settles FCPA Charges With The SEC (October 1, 2007)

Monty Fu, the founder of Syncor International Corp., agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 27, 2007 to resolve U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges by consenting to a permanent injunction against FCPA books-and-records violations and agreeing to pay a $75,000 civil penalty. Fu was Syncor's CEO from 1985 to 1989 and board chairman from 1985 to November 6, 2002, when he went on paid leave until he resigned in December 2002.

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A.T. Kearney's Former India President Violated The FCPA (September 26, 2007)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced on September 25, 2007 two settled enforcement actions based on violations of the books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The actions involved the founder and former president of A.T. Kearney Ltd's India business, Chandramowli Srinivasan, and Kearney's former parent company, Electronic Data Systems Corp. . . .

For violating Sections 13(b)(5) and 30A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Srinivasan paid a civil penalty of $70,000.

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