Conspirators Paid Over $1.3 Million to Influence the
Official and to Secure Business with State-Owned Telecommunications Company
An Aruban official residing in Florida pleaded guilty today
to money laundering charges in connection with his role in a scheme to arrange
and receive corrupt payments to influence the awarding of contracts with an
Aruban state-owned telecommunications corporation.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg of the Southern District
of Florida, Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Department
of Justice’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Robert F. Lasky of the
FBI’s Miami Field Office made the announcement.
Egbert Yvan Ferdinand Koolman, 49, a Dutch citizen residing
in Miami, Florida, was an official of Servicio di Telecommunicacion di Aruba
N.V. (Setar), an instrumentality of the Aruban government. Koolman pleaded guilty before U.S. District
Judge Frederico A. Moreno of the Southern District of Florida to one count of
conspiracy to commit money laundering.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27.
In connection with the scheme, Lawrence W. Parker, Jr., 42,
of Miami, pleaded guilty on Dec. 28, 2017 to one count of conspiracy to violate
the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud. Parker’s sentencing is scheduled for April
30.
According to admissions made as part of his plea agreement,
between 2005 and 2016, Koolman operated a money laundering conspiracy from his
position as Setar’s product manager.
Koolman admitted that, as part of the scheme, he conspired with Parker
and others to transmit funds from Florida and elsewhere in the United States to
Aruba and Panama with the intent to promote a wire fraud scheme and a corrupt
scheme that violated the FCPA. Koolman
was promised and received bribes from individuals and companies located in the
United States and abroad in exchange for using his position at Setar to award
lucrative mobile phone and accessory contracts, he admitted. He received the corrupt payments via wire
transfer from banks located in the United States, in cash during meetings in
Miami and in Aruba, and by withdrawing cash in Aruba using a bankcard that drew
money from a United States-based bank account, he further admitted. In exchange for the more than $1.3 million in
corrupt payments that he received, Koolman also admitted providing favored
vendors with Setar’s confidential information.
The FBI is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lois Foster-Steers of
the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Jonathan Robell and
Vanessa Snyder of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the
case. The Criminal Division’s Office of
International Affairs also provided significant assistance.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment