Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic, Bribery Conspiracy, Florida 2024

Bolivian Minister Gets 5.75 Years for Bribery Conspiracy

Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic, 58, a former Bolivian Minister of Government, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy. The scheme involved corruptly helping a US company secure a lucrative contract from the Bolivian government.

Murillo, of Bolivia, pleaded guilty on Oct. 20, 2022, to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The former minister received at least $532,000 in bribe payments from a Florida-based company in exchange for securing the $5.6 million contract in 2019 to provide tear gas and other non-lethal equipment to the Bolivian Ministry of Defense.

The bribe payments were laundered through the US financial system, including bank accounts in Miami. Murillo received approximately $130,000 in cash bribe payments at a family member’s home in Miami.

Murillo’s co-conspirators, including Sergio Rodrigo Mendez Mendizabal, Luis Berkman, Bryan Berkman, and Philip Lichtenfeld, previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme and were each sentenced in June 2022.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Buckley of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami Field Office made the announcement.

HSI’s Miami Field Office (Fort Lauderdale Unit) investigated the case. Trial Attorney Jil Simon and Assistant Chief Gerald M. Moody Jr. of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eli S. Rubin for the Southern District of Florida prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabrielle Charest-Turken handled asset forfeiture.

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