Jorge Granados, Foreign Bribery Conspiracy, Florida 2011

Former CEO Pleads Guilty to Foreign Bribery Conspiracy

MIAMI, FL – Jorge Granados, the former chief executive officer of Miami-based telecommunications company Latin Node Inc. (LatiNode), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to pay bribes to government officials in Honduras.

According to court documents, Granados and other LatiNode executives agreed to a secret deal to pay bribes to Hondutel officials, including the general manager, a senior attorney for Hondutel and a minister of the Honduran government who became a representative on the Hondutel Board of Directors.

Between September 2006 and June 2007, LatiNode executives paid more than $500,000 in bribes to the Honduran officials, concealing many of the payments by laundering the money through LatiNode subsidiaries in Guatemala and to accounts in Honduras controlled by the Honduran government officials. Granados admitted that he authorized bribe payments.

Granados, 54, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard in U.S. District Court in Miami to conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

At sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 22, 2011, Granados faces up to five years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, or twice the value gained or lost.

The resolution of the criminal investigation of LatiNode reflected, in large part, the FBI’s commitment to aggressively pursue individuals and businesses that engage in corruption around the globe.

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