Measuring Naaman's Jail Time

How does the thirty-month prison term Ousama Naaman received last week compare with other FCPA sentences?

It's near the middle.

Here are some shorter sentences:

In January this year, Antonio Perez received two years in prison in the Haiti Telco case. He admitted paying $36,375 in bribes.

Leo Winston Smith was given just six months jail time in December 2010. The former salesman for Pacific Consolidated Industries was 75 and in poor health.

In October 2010, Bobby Jay Elkin Jr., a country manager in Kyrgyzstan for tobacco company Dimon Inc, copped just three years probation. The judge called him a hero for helping his subordinates during local rioting.

In September 2010, Nam Nguyen was sentenced to sixteen months in prison. His brother, An Nguyen, received nine months, and their sister, Kim Nguyen, was sentenced to two years probation.

Joseph Lukas, a co-defendant with the Nguyens, was let off with two years probation.

In August 2010, Hollywood couple Gerald and Patricia Green got six months in jail. Gerald Green, 78, was suffering from emphysema.

Frederic Bourke was sentenced in 2009 to a year and a day in prison. The judge said, “After years of supervising this case, it’s still not entirely clear to me whether Mr. Bourke is a victim or a crook or a little bit of both.”

In all those cases, as in Naaman's, the DOJ had asked for more jail time.

Some longer FCPA-related prison terms are shown below. Five of those defendants, including Joel Esquenazi, were sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Miami), known as a tough sentencing venue.

In October, Esquenazi received a fifteen-year prison term -- the longest in an FCPA-related case. A jury convicted him on multiple related charges -- one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and commit wire fraud, seven substantive FCPA counts, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and twelve counts of money laundering. Each money laundering-related count carried a maximum twenty-year sentence.

Chart courtesy of Michael Volkov of Mayer Brown LLP in Washington, D.C. Volkov is the primary contributor to the Corruption, Crime & Compliance Blog.

Four Sentenced For Vietnam Graft

The DOJ said today that three siblings who were former employees of Nexus Technologies Inc., and a former partner in the Philadelphia-based company, were sentenced late yesterday for their roles in a conspiracy to bribe Vietnamese government officials.

The president and owner of the company, Nam Nguyen, was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to serve two years of supervised release following the prison term. His brother, An Nguyen, was sentenced to nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. His sister, Kim Nguyen, was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

Joseph Lukas, a former partner with Nexus, also was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. He pleaded guilty in June 2009 to conspiracy and to violating the FCPA and agreed to cooperate with the DOJ.

Nexus, Nam Nguyen, 54, of Houston and Vietnam, Kim Nguyen, 41, of Philadelphia, and An Nguyen, 34, of Philadelphia, were charged in a superseding indictment in October 2009 with conspiracy, violations of the FCPA, violations of the Travel Act in connection with commercial bribes, and money laundering.

Nexus pleaded guilty in March to all the charges filed against the company in the superseding indictment, and agreed to cease operations and dissolve.

Nexus and the Nguyens admitted that from 1999 to 2008 they paid bribes of more than $250,000 to Vietnamese government officials in exchange for contracts. Privately-held Nexus sold third-party underwater mapping and bomb containment equipment, helicopter parts, chemical detectors, satellite communication parts and air tracking systems.

In March this year, Nam and An Nguyen pleaded guilty to conspiracy, substantive FCPA violations, violating the Travel Act and money laundering, and Kim Nguyen pleaded guilty to conspiracy, substantive FCPA violations, and money laundering.

Four Guilty Pleas In Vietnam Bribe Case

The Justice Department said Philadelphia-based export company Nexus Technologies Inc. and three employees pleaded guilty today to bribing Vietnamese officials.

Nexus pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and the Travel Act in connection with commercial bribes and money laundering. Nam Nguyen, 54, of Houston and Vietnam, the president and owner of Nexus, and sibling An Nguyen, 34, of Philadelphia, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy, a substantive FCPA violation, a violation of the Travel Act, and money laundering. Kim Nguyen, 41, another sibling, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, a substantive FCPA violation, and money laundering.

They were arrested in September 2008, along with Joseph T. Lukas, 60, a partner in Nexus until 2005. He pleaded guilty in June 2009 to conspiracy and to violating the FCPA. The DOJ said he admitted in his plea that from 1999 to 2005, he and others at Nexus bribed Vietnamese officials in exchange for contracts with the officials' agencies. The bribes were falsely described in the company's books as "commissions."

Lukas now faces up to 10 years in prison and a possible $350,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for April 6, 2010.

Nexus and the Nguyens admitted that from 1999 to 2008 they paid bribes of more than $250,000 to Vietnamese government officials in exchange for contracts. Nexus sold third-party underwater mapping and bomb containment equipment, helicopter parts, chemical detectors, satellite communication parts and air tracking systems.

The DOJ said Nexus acknowledged as part of its guilty plea that "it operated primarily through criminal means and agreed to cease operations."

Sentencing is scheduled for July 13, 2010. Nexus still faces a maximum fine of $27 million. Nam and An Nguyen each face a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison. Kim Nguyen faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

The government hasn't released the plea agreements for Nexus and the Nguyens; the plea agreement in U.S. v. Lukas remains under court seal.

A copy of the Justice Department's March 16, 2010 release can be viewed here.

Download a copy of the October 29, 2009 superseding indictment in U.S. v. Nexus Technologies, Inc. et al here.

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.

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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.

Their Days Are Numbered

We count at least thirteen people waiting to be sentenced for violating or conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Both offenses carry a prison term of up to five years. And for substantive offenses the fine can be up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain produced by the bribes. Those on our list either pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial. Their names (linked to posts describing their guilty pleas or convictions) are followed by current sentencing dates. The dates often slip, so we'll try to stay on top of any changes.

Who are they? A former congressman, a famous entrepreneur, husband-and-wife movie producers, c-level executives and top managers. Real people who are probably going to jail. Yes, the FCPA is serious, and the consequences of not complying with it can be tragic.

Here are the twelve men and one woman and their days of reckoning:

Frederic Bourke -- November 10, 2009.

Jim Bob Brown -- January 28, 2010.

Mario Covino -- January 25, 2010.

Juan Diaz -- November 13, 2009.

Gerald and Patricia Green -- December 17, 2009.

William Jefferson -- November 13, 2009.

Joseph T. Lukas -- April 6, 2010.

Richard Morlok -- January 25, 2010.

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

Leo Winston Smith -- December 18, 2009.

Albert "Jack" Stanley -- February 24, 2010.

Jason Edward Steph -- January 28, 2010.

Let us know if there are others who belong on the list.