DOJ Indicts Vitol Oil Trader in International Bribery and Money Laundering
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned an indictment against Javier Aguilar, an oil trader at Vitol, an energy and commodity trading company, for his role in a five-year international bribery and money laundering scheme carried out in Ecuador.
Between approximately 2015 and July 2020, Aguilar and others
participated in a conspiracy to pay and conceal bribes to Ecuadoran government
officials, including officials at Petroecuador, the state-owned oil and gas
company, to secure a valuable, $300 million contract to purchase fuel oil for the
benefit of Vitol.
Aguilar was charged in two counts – conspiracy to violate
the FCPA and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Aguilar has been the focus of a long-running FCPA and money
laundering investigation. The
investigation was initially focused on trading activities involving Petrobras
in Brazil. Vitol is the world’s largest
independent oil trader and is based in London.
Aside from Aguilar, other Vitol executives are under investigation.
In the initial complaint supporting an arrest warrant for
Aguilar, the government affidavit references two cooperating witnesses who
entered into written cooperation agreements and guilty pleas. The complaint references recorded phone calls
and meetings with Aguilar.
Aguilar is alleged to have made illegal payments of
approximately $870,000 to Ecuadoran officials for their assistance in securing
a $300 million fuel oil contract with Petroecuador.
Vitol is cooperating with the DOJ probe.
Aguilar was arrested on July 10, 2020 and released on
$100,000 bond.
According to the charging documents, Aguilar used an
intermediary in Curacao and shell companies to funnel bribes to two Ecuadoran
consultants who in turn passed the bribes to two Petroecuador officials,
including a senior manager and a member of the Ecuadoran ministry of
Hydrocarbons.
Starting in 2015, Aguilar, the two consultants and the two
Ecuadoran government officials met and agreed to facilitate business
opportunities in exchange for bribes.
Beginning in 2016, the conspirators agreed that the amount of corrupt
payments would be 25 cents per barrel of fuel oil provided to Vitol pursuant to
a Petroecuador contract.
To conceal the bribery scheme, Aguilar instructed one of the
consultants to use the intermediary to hide the source of the payments made to
the two consultants. In December 2016,
the intermediary and one of the consultants entered into a sham consulting
agreement between the consulting company and one of the shell company’s
controlled by the intermediary. To
receive the payments, the consultant generated a fake invoice corresponding to
the number of barrels of fuel oil that Vitol received.
Vitol made payments to bank accounts in Curacao in the name
of the shell companies, respectively, which were controlled by the
intermediary. After receiving such
payments, the intermediary wired payments to a consulting company bank account
in the Cayman Islands. The consultants
paid the bribes p[romised to the Ecuadoran officials accounts.
Between March 2017 and November 2018, the two consultants
paid one of Ecuadoran officials approximately $270,000 for Vitol. In addition, between May 2018 and March 2020,
Aguilar and others caused Vitol to pay the two consultants $1.4 million of the
$3.6 million owed pursuant to the contract.
The two consultants paid Ecuadoran official approximately $600,000 of
the more than $1.5 million that the conspirators agreed to pay one of the
Ecuadoran officials on behalf of Vitol.
Starting in 2019, some of Aguilar’s telephone discussions
and meetings with the two consultants were recorded. On February 6, 2020, Aguilar discussed with
one of the consultants that Vitol owed money to the Ecuadoran officials. Aguilar specifically stated: “It’s a
commitment… I mean, I manage it. It will be done. I have to accelerate this, so
there will be no more hindering of this.”
In a subsequent conversation Aguilar referred to the need to execute
“fake contracts” to facilitate additional payments.
On March 5, 2020, Aguilar met with the two consultants in
Houston, Texas. The meeting was
recorded. The two consultants stated
they need to be paid by the intermediary.
Aguilar indicated he was in contact with the intermediary as to payments
to the two consultants and “four or five others.”
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