United States accuses Connecticut businessman of bribing Brazil’s Petrobras | – #United #States #accuses #Connecticut #businessman #bribing #Brazils #Petrobras
February 17 (Reuters) – USA prosecutors on Friday in Connecticut oil and gas trader and to win business from Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras ( PETR4.SA ). a bribe announced corruption charges against a second person for alleged roles in the embezzlement scheme.
The Department of Justice said that 2010–2018Glenn Oztemel, 64, of Westport, Connecticut, and Brazil-Italy oil and gas broker Eduardo Innecco, 73, to Brazilian officials to help two Connecticut trading companies close deals a bribe they gave Learn confidential details about Petrobras’ fuel oil business.
According to the seven-count indictment, the defendants used personal e-mail accounts and encrypted messaging programs to hide the scheme, particularly in connection with information obtained from Rodrigo Berkowitz, a former Petrobras fuel trader in Houston.
The indictment states that the defendants a bribe and used coded language such as “breakfast” and “breakfast servings” to refer to bribe amounts, as well as fictitious names such as when Innecco called himself “Spencer Kazinaf”.
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Both defendants were charged in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut with bribery, money laundering and conspiracy and face decades in prison if convicted. imprisonment can be
Oztemel, formerly of Stamford, Connecticut-based Freepoint Commodities, on Wednesday in Florida imprisonment and was released on $3 million bail after a hearing in Miami on Thursday.
“Throughout his more than 40-year career in the oil industry, Glenn Oztemel has conducted himself with integrity and maintained an unblemished record,” said his attorney, Nelson Boxer. “He denies the allegations and we look forward to clearing his good name. “
Innecco is free.
2020Öztemel at Freepoint before retiring in USA worked as the head of Fuel Oil Book for its operations, and Innecco did consulting work there.
Brazilian authorities have been investigating suspected bribery involving Petrobras for seven years Car Investigated Freepoint employees as part of Operation Wash.
Berkowitz told those authorities how many rivals to the Freepoint employees, when Petrobras was auctioning off fuel offer said it reported what it did, which allowed Freepoint to submit slightly higher bids, but not excessively offer without doing
No payment received from Freepoint. In a statement, it said it “will not tolerate corruption or illegal business practices” and that the alleged abuse violated Freepoint’s policies and commitment to comply with the law.
Berkowitz pleaded guilty in February 2019 to one count of money laundering conspiracy. His sentencing is scheduled for April 27 in federal court in Brooklyn.
Editing by Tomasz Janowski (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Sabrina Valle in Houston)
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2023-02-18 06:11:32
Source – reuters
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