Panama Intermediaries Each Sentenced to 36 Months in Prison for International Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme

Two brothers, every a dual-citizen of Panama and Italy, have been every sentenced to 36 months in jail for laundering $28 million in a bribery and cash laundering scheme involving Odebrecht S.A. (Odebrecht), a Brazil-based international development conglomerate. The defendants have been additionally ordered to forfeit greater than $18.8 million, pay a $250,000 tremendous and serve two years’ supervised launch.

Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, 40, and Ricardo Enrique Martinelli Linares, 42, every pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit cash laundering and admitted to agreeing with others to set up offshore financial institution accounts in the names of shell corporations to obtain and disguise over $28 million in bribe proceeds from Odebrecht for the good thing about a detailed relative, a high-ranking public official in Panama. According to court docket paperwork, roughly $19 million of the bribes have been transferred by U.S. banks. Luis Martinelli Linares additionally used a number of the proceeds of the scheme to buy a $1.7 million yacht and a $1.3 million condominium in the United States, and Ricardo Martinelli Linares spent lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} in proceeds to pay private bills.

On Dec. 21, 2016, Odebrecht pleaded responsible in the Eastern District of New York to a legal data charging it with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for its involvement in the bribery and cash laundering scheme. According to court docket paperwork, the scheme concerned the fee of greater than $700 million in bribes to authorities officers, public servants, political events, and others in Panama and different nations world wide to acquire and retain enterprise for the corporate.

The defendants have been initially charged by legal grievance on June 27, 2020. Pursuant to a provisional arrest request from the United States, they have been arrested at el Aeropuerto Internacional la Aurora in Guatemala on July 6, 2020, as they have been making an attempt to depart Guatemala on a personal aircraft, and later held on extradition requests from the United States. Both defendants filed a number of challenges and appeals opposing the extradition request in Guatemalan courts earlier than in the end being extradited to the United States, Luis Martinelli Linares on Nov. 15, 2021, and Ricardo Martinelli Linares on Dec. 10, 2021.

On Feb. 4, 2021, Luis Martinelli Linares and Ricardo Martinelli Linares have been charged with conspiracy and cash laundering costs by an indictment filed in federal court docket in Brooklyn.

“Ricardo and Luis Martinelli Linares directed millions of dollars in bribes through U.S. banks to their own Swiss accounts in order to help Odebrecht gain corrupt influence at the highest levels of the Panamanian government,” stated Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s sentences show that the Department of Justice remains committed to prosecuting individuals who enable and profit from laundering corrupt payments to foreign officials through the U.S. financial system, as well as those who attempt to spend the proceeds of corruption in the United States.”

“The Martinelli brothers used American banks to commit their selfish, greedy fraud – and now it is the American legal system serving justice with today’s sentencing, especially for the people of Panama,” stated U.S. Attorney Peace. “Together, the Department of Justice, this office and our law enforcement partners stand firm against international corruption and will use all tools at our disposal to root it out.”

“The defendants laundered millions of dollars in bribes through the U.S. financial system to benefit a close relative and maintain their luxury lifestyles,” stated Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Today’s sentencing shows that the FBI and our law enforcement partners are committed to bringing to justice anyone who enables the corruption of public officials for personal gain.”

The FBI’s International Corruption Unit in New York is investigating this case, with the help of FBI Legal Attaché Panama. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs supplied important help in securing their arrest and extradition from Guatemala.

Trial Attorney Michael Culhane Harper of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, Trial Attorneys Barbara Levy and Michael Redmann of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), and Assistant U.S. Attorney (*36*) E. Smith of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Mantell of U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York’s Civil Division is dealing with forfeiture issues.

Additional details about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts could be discovered at www.justice.gov/legal/fraud/fcpa.

The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative in MLARS was shaped to prosecute cash launderers and forfeit the proceeds of international official corruption and, the place acceptable, to use these recovered belongings to profit the individuals harmed by the corruption and abuse of workplace. Individuals with details about attainable proceeds of international corruption positioned in or laundered by the United States ought to contact federal regulation enforcement or ship an electronic mail to [email protected].

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