Faegre Drinker represented a Venezuelan-American executive in his guilty plea to charges of bribing officials at Venezuela’s Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and its Texas-based subsidiary, Citgo Petroleum Corp. (Citgo), in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The client also pled guilty to failing to file a required foreign bank account report (FBAR).
This executive was the first publicly identified individual in DOJ’s PDVSA-related cases to plead guilty to bribing both PDVSA and Citgo officials. The matter was particularly complex due to the high-profile nature of the U.S. government’s ongoing campaign against corruption in Venezuela, and the fact that our client was initially detained pending trial. Our firm was able to negotiate a favorable plea for this executive, including an agreement to release our client on bond pending sentencing.
