Greens Can't Afford Fines; U.S. Appeals Their Sentences

The DOJ is appealing the six-month prison sentences imposed in August on Gerald Green and his wife Patricia.

The government wanted them to serve at least ten years in prison. Their six-month sentences are among the most lenient in recent FCPA cases.

Gerald Green is 78 and suffers from emphysema. His wife is 53. Judge Wu delayed their sentencing five times. In addition to six months in prison, the judge ordered supervised release for three years and restitution from the Greens jointly and severally of $250,000.

The Hollywood movie producers were convicted in September 2009 of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, nine counts of violating the FCPA, and seven counts of money laundering. Patricia Green was also found guilty of two counts of signing a false U.S. income tax return.

Despite their short prison terms, the Greens didn't get off easy. At the government's request, the judge ordered forfeiture of their property. Their bank accounts, West Hollywood home and most of what's in it, BMW 740, their company, and their pension assets were all seized.

Judge Wu then addressed the Greens as indigents. "All fines are waived," he ruled as to each of them, "as it is found that the defendant does not have the ability to pay."

He asked them to settle the $250,000 restitution they jointly owe by paying $50 a month. That means they'll be square in 5,000 months -- about 416 years.

In April this year, Charles Jumet was sentenced to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate the FCPA by making corrupt payments to government officials in Panama and giving a false statement to the FBI about how he paid some of the bribe money. 

Jumet's co-conspirator, John Warwick, was sentenced in June to 37 months in prison. He also received two years of supervised release following his prison term and forfeited $331,000 in proceeds of the crime.

In April last year, the Virginia-based physicist who sold controlled space-launch technology to China by bribing government officials there was sentenced to 51 months in prison. Shu Quan-Sheng pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and two counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act.

Frederic Bourke was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $1 million for investing in a bribe-tainted deal in Azerbaijan and then lying to FBI agents about it. He was convicted in 2009 by a Manhattan jury of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. He's appealing his conviction.

And Juan Diaz, a Miami businessman at the center of the Haiti telco bribery case, was sentenced to 57 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to a one-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering.

The Greens' surrender date to the U.S. Marshals in LA, for transport to federal prison, is November 29, 2010.

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Download a copy of the August 13, 2010 forfeiture order against Gerald and Patricia Green here.

Download a copy of the government's October 8, 2010 notice of appeal in US v. Green here.

The Enforcement Rap Sheet

If the DOJ and SEC are prosecuting corporations instead of individuals for FCPA violations -- an idea raised in another post -- the numbers should show it. So let's take a look.

We'll use figures from Shearman & Sterling's latest FCPA Digest to compare prosecutions from 2005 through 2009. For 2010, we'll use our own numbers.

For all the years examined, a joint enforcement action by the DOJ and SEC against a corporate defendant and any its subsidiaries, or any one individual, is counted one time. For each year, only newly initiated enforcement actions are counted.

In 2005, there were eight corporate enforcement actions and eight individual prosecutions.

In 2006, there were eight corporate and nine individual prosecutions.

In 2007, the start of the modern FCPA era, there were 25 corporate and 17 individual enforcement actions.

In 2008, there were 16 corporate and 18 individual actions.

In 2009, there were 15 new corporate actions and 42 individuals charged, including the 22 shot-show defendants indicted in December 2009.

So far in 2010, our count is 13 new corporate actions and 12 individuals charged.

The combined numbers for 2005 through today show 84 corporate actions and 105 individuals charged.

What does that mean? There's a rough equivalency between corporate and individual actions. In most years the ratio is nearly one-to-one if the 22 shot-show defendants aren't counted. If the shot-show defendants are counted, there are five individual actions for every four corporate actions. And the ratio for each of the years, except the shot-show year of 2009, holds quite steady. The raw numbers, then, don't support the idea that corporate enforcement is gaining the upper hand over individual actions.

But the raw numbers don't tell a crucial fact -- who the individual defendants worked for. If a significant number of them worked for companies that weren't charged, or if multiple defendants worked for the same company, that would mean for many corporate enforcement actions, no individuals from those companies faced FCPA prosecutions.

Here's what we know. There are several cases where two or more individual defendants worked for the same company that was itself an FCPA defendant. Examples would be the eight defendants from Control Components Inc., four from Nexus Technologies, four from Alliance One, and three from Willbros. And there are many cases where the employers of individual defendants weren't charged. Included would be Ports Engineering Consultants Corporation, employer of Charles Jumet and John Warwick, AMAC International, employer of Shu Quan-Sheng, and JD Locator Services, employer of Juan Diaz. That leaves lots of corporate enforcement actions since 2005 where no individuals from those companies have been charged.

Which brings us back to the earlier question: Are corporate settlements replacing the prosecution of individuals from the companies involved in the settlements?

Coming up: A look at the enforcement record in a new way.

Greens Get Six Months In Jail

Patricia Green, with her husband Gerald The husband-and-wife Hollywood movie producers convicted of bribing a Thai government official were each sentenced to six months in jail and six months home confinement yesterday by a federal judge in Los Angeles.

Gerald Green, 78, and Patricia Green, 53, were also ordered to each pay $250,000 in restitution.

Judge George H. Wu had delayed the Greens' sentencing five times. Prosecutors first argued that the federal guidelines called for sentences of around 20 years in prison. In a brief filed this week, they asked for ten-year jail terms. The Greens' lawyers had argued for no jail time.

The Greens were convicted last year after a jury trial of paying $1.8 million in bribes from 2003 to 2007 to Juthamas Siriwan, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the president of the Bangkok film festival. In exchange, prosecutors said, the Greens obtained contracts worth about $13.5 million to produce the film festival.

The couple's six-month prison terms are the most lenient in recent FCPA cases.

In April this year, a Virginia man was sentenced to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate the FCPA by making corrupt payments to government officials in Panama and giving a false statement to the FBI about how he paid some of the bribe money. Charles Jumet's sentence is the longest FCPA-related prison term ever imposed.

Jumet's co-conspirator, John Warwick, was sentenced in June to 37 months in prison. He also received two years of supervised release following his prison term and forfeited $331,000 in proceeds of the crime.

In April last year, the Virginia-based physicist who sold controlled space-launch technology to China by bribing government officials there was sentenced to 51 months in prison. Shu Quan-Sheng pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and two counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act.

Frederic Bourke was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $1 million for investing in a bribe-tainted deal in Azerbaijan and then lying to FBI agents about it. He was convicted in 2009 by a Manhattan jury of conspiracy to violate the FCPA.

And last month, Juan Diaz, a Miami businessman at the center of the Haiti telco bribery case, was sentenced to 57 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to a one-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering.

The Greens were found guilty of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, nine counts of violating the FCPA, and seven counts of money laundering. Patricia Green was also found guilty of two counts of signing a false U.S. income tax return. The conspiracy and FCPA charges were each punishable by up to five years in prison, the money laundering counts by 20 years in prison, and the tax charges against Patricia Green each carried a maximum penalty of three years in prison.

The Thai official involved in the case, Juthamas Siriwan, and her daughter were indicted by a federal grand jury in LA in January this year. They were charged with one count of conspiracy, seven counts of transporting funds to promote unlawful activity (bribery), and one count of aiding and abetting. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison.

Gerald Green has emphysema and has appeared in court with an oxygen bottle to help him breathe. The judge had ordered production of his medical records. At a series of post-trial hearings, Judge Wu had also asked prosecutors and defense lawyers to talk about penalties handed out in similar cases. 

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.