Money Launderer Pleads Guilty to Helping Violate FCPA in Panamanian Bribery Scheme
Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares pleaded guilty on Dec. 14 to conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of a massive bribery scheme that has already seen punishments doled out to Brazil-based global construction conglomerate Odebrecht S.A., the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said. The conglomerate pleaded guilty in 2016 to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a bribery and money laundering scheme in Panama. Luis Martinelli Linares, Ricardo's brother, pleaded guilty on Dec. 2 to the same misconduct.
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The scheme involved paying over $700 million in bribes to government officials, public servants and others in Panama and other countries to obtain business for Odebrecht, the Department of Justice said. The Martinelli Linares brothers fit into the scheme as money launderers. The pair, with others, set up offshore bank accounts in the names of shell companies to launder over $28 million in bribe proceeds, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Ricardo Martinelli Linares admitted to wiring the bribe funds into and out of the U.S.
“The Martinelli Linares brothers have admitted to establishing secret bank accounts in the names of shell companies in foreign countries and the United States in order to disguise close to $30 million in Odebrecht’s bribe payments to one of their close relatives, a high-ranking public official in Panama,” Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. “Through the tenacious efforts of the Department of Justice, this Office and our law enforcement partners, the defendants have now been held to account for their corrupt schemes.”