Ex-Glencore trader pleads guilty in Nigeria oil-bribe scheme
A former UK-based oil trader at Glencore pleaded guilty in the US to participating in an international scheme to bribe officials in Nigeria to win favourable treatment from the state-owned oil company.
Anthony Stimler entered the plea during a video hearing in
Manhattan federal court Monday. Glencore confirmed that Stimler is a former
employee at its oil business.
“The conduct described in the plea is unacceptable and has
no place in Glencore,” the company said in a statement. “Glencore has
cooperated fully with the DOJ and other authorities in their investigations and
continues to do so.”
The plea is just the latest legal setback for Glencore,
already embroiled in a wide-ranging probe by the US Department of Justice on
allegations of bribery and money laundering. The UK, Switzerland and Brazil are
also investigating the company. Authorities around the world are increasingly
policing commodities trading and the companies that dominate it, while making a
renewed push against market manipulation.
Charles Watenphul, a spokesman for Glencore, declined to say
whether additional current or former employees could face additional charges.
Glencore said on Monday that it has taken “remedial
measures” based on what it’s learned from the government’s investigation.
“Glencore has significantly enhanced its ethics and
compliance programme over the last few years with a view to developing a best
in-class program,” the company said.
Stimler admitted to conspiring to violate the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act and to commit money laundering. Phone calls to his
lawyers weren’t immediately returned.
“In Nigeria, in exchange for the bribes, foreign officials
caused the Nigerian state-owned and state-controlled oil company to award oil
contracts and to provide more lucrative grades of oil on more favorable
delivery terms” to the company, according to the charges.
Stimler joined Glencore from a family run petrochemical
conversion business in 1999, according to an online biography. He left in 2019
after the head of the oil division retired.
The charges against Stimler refer to seven co-conspirators,
including citizens of the U.K., Nigeria, Mexico, Spain and Israel. Prosecutors
didn’t identify those people. Stimler was permitted to remain free in the UK on
$500,000 bond.
Baar, Switzerland-based Glencore in July, 2018 disclosed that
a subsidiary had received a subpoena in an Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and
money laundering investigation involving the company’s business in Nigeria, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Venezuela from 2007 to 2018.
Four months ago, a former Glencore trader pleaded guilty to
manipulating an oil price benchmark, allowing the world’s largest commodities
trader to profit from the price swings and enriching himself. Emilio Heredia
admitted to a conspiracy in which he directed buy and sell orders that pushed
fuel oil prices up and down during a hearing in San Francisco.
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