Frederic Cilins, a 51-year-old French citizen, has pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal investigation into bribery allegations in Guinea. Cilins was arrested in April 2013 and pled guilty today before United States District Judge William H. Pauley, III.
According to the allegations, Cilins sought to obstruct an investigation being conducted by a federal grand jury into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering. The investigation related to allegations that a mining company with which Cilins was affiliated paid bribes to officials of a former governmental regime of the Republic of Guinea to win valuable mining concessions in the Simandou region of Guinea.
During monitored and recorded phone calls and face-to-face meetings, Cilins agreed to pay substantial sums of money to induce a witness to, among other things, destroy documents and turn over documents to Cilins for destruction, knowing that such documents were being sought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and were to be produced before a federal grand jury.
Cilins sought to induce the witness to sign an affidavit containing false statements regarding matters under investigation by the grand jury.
Cilins pled guilty to a one-count superseding information filed today, which alleges that Cilins sought to induce the witness to give him documents so that he could destroy them.
Cilins faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Pauley on June 27, 2014, at 2:00 p.m.
US Attorney Preet Bharara praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI in the investigation, which he noted is ongoing.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Public Corruption|White Collar Crime|Obstruction of Justice
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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