Former PdVSA Official Pleads Guilty in Connection to Foreign Bribery Scheme
A former official working for the Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned energy company pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges in connection with a foreign bribery scheme, the Department of Justice said March 23. Dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen Jose Luis De Jongh Atencio,…
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who worked at Citgo Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., accepted more than $7 million in bribes in exchange for contracts with Citgo, the agency said. De Jongh directed those bribe payments into bank accounts created under shell companies in Panama and Switzerland before laundering the money through U.S. and other international banks, the Justice said. He also created fake invoices to justify the payments and received various gifts from business people seeking Citgo contracts, including tickets to a World Series game, a Super Bowl and a U2 concert. De Jongh accepted the bribes from two businessmen, Jose Manuel Gonzalez Testino, a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen, and Tulio Anibal Farias Perez, a Venezuelan national and Houston resident, who pleaded guilty to related charges, Justice said. De Jongh faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and agreed to forfeit more than $3 million and 15 properties that he bought with the bribes.