Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni, International Bribery and Money Laundering, Florida 2023

Former Ecuadorian Comptroller General Sentenced for Multimillion-Dollar Bribery Scheme

MIAMI – Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni, the former Comptroller General of Ecuador, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $16.5 million for his role in a multimillion-dollar international bribery and money laundering scheme.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2010 to 2015, Polit solicited and received over $10 million in bribe payments from Odebrecht S.A., the Brazil-based construction conglomerate. Polit, in his position as Comptroller General of Ecuador, was responsible for protecting public funds against fraud and rooting out corruption. Instead, Polit took bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for removing fines and not imposing fines on Odebrecht’s projects in Ecuador.

Additionally, in or around 2015, Polit received a bribe from an Ecuadorian businessman in exchange for assisting the businessman with obtaining certain contracts with the state-owned insurance company of Ecuador. From in or around 2010 and continuing until at least 2017, at the direction of Polit, another member of the conspiracy caused proceeds of Polit’s bribery scheme to “disappear” by using Florida companies registered in the names of friends and associates, often without the associates’ knowledge. The conspirators also used funds from Polit’s bribery scheme to purchase and renovate real estate in Florida.

On April 23, Polit was convicted at trial of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, three counts of concealment money laundering, and two counts of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property.

Odebrecht S.A. pleaded guilty in December 2016 to conspiring to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with a broader scheme to pay nearly $800 million in bribes to public officials in 12 countries, including Ecuador.

The case was investigated by the HSI Miami Field Office, with substantial assistance from IRS Criminal Investigation and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. Law enforcement authorities in Ecuador, Brazil, Panama, and Curacao also provided assistance with the investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Michael N. Berger for the Southern District of Florida, Trial Attorney Jil Simon and Assistant Chief Alexander Kramer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicole Grosnoff and Sandra Demirci for the Southern District of Florida.

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