Florida Asphalt Company Agrees to Pay $16.6 Million to Resolve Bribery Case
23 September 2020 - 11:36AM
Dow Jones News
By Jack Hagel
A Florida asphalt company pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $16.6
million to resolve charges stemming from a foreign bribery probe
spanning three South American countries.
Sargeant Marine Inc., which specializes in selling and
transporting asphalt, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate
antibribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the
U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.
The Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based company was alleged to have paid
millions of dollars in bribes to government officials in Brazil,
Venezuela and Ecuador to win contracts from state-controlled oil
companies in those countries, prosecutors said. The illicit
payments helped Sargeant Marine and affiliated companies earn
profits of about $38 million between about 2010 and 2018, according
to the Justice Department.
Sargeant Marine didn't immediately respond to requests for
comment.
In Brazil, Sargeant Marine and related companies bribed
executives and high-ranking government officials to win contracts
to sell asphalt to Petróleo Brasileiro SA from about 2010 to 2015,
resulting in about $26.5 million in profits, according to
prosecutors.
Employees and agents sought to conceal payments by creating fake
consulting contracts and phony invoices, prosecutors said. They
wired millions of dollars from the U.S. to offshore accounts held
by shell companies of middlemen, prosecutors said.
Petrobras said a spokesperson wasn't available to comment on the
case.
Sargeant Marine ran a similar scheme in Venezuela between about
2012 and 2018 to purchase asphalt from Petróleos de Venezuela SA,
prosecutors said, earning Sargeant Marine about $8.2 million in
profits. Earlier this month, a criminal complaint was unsealed
charging a former PdVSA official with conspiracy to commit money
laundering in part for an alleged role in the Venezuela scheme,
prosecutors said.
The company also paid bribes through an intermediary to an
official working for EP Petroecuador to steer a contract with the
state-controlled oil company in Ecuador, which resulted in profits
of $3.2 million, prosecutors said.
PdVSA and Petroecuador didn't immediately respond to requests
for comment.
At least six individuals -- including an executive and traders
of Sargeant Marine, plus middlemen involved in the schemes and a
Venezuelan official -- also have pleaded guilty to charges related
to the investigations, prosecutors said.
--Mengqi Sun contributed to this article.
Write to Jack Hagel at jack.hagel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2020 21:21 ET (01:21 GMT)
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