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High-Ranking Bank Official Pleads Guilty to Bribery in New York
A shocking tale of corruption has unfolded in New York federal court as Maria De Los Angeles Gonzalez De Hernandez, a 55-year-old high-ranking bank official at Venezuela’s state economic development bank, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from a New York-based broker-dealer.
According to court records, Gonzalez De Hernandez oversaw the development bank’s overseas trading activity and directed the bank to conduct substantial trading through the broker-dealer. The trades involved fixed income investments for which the broker-dealer charged the bank a mark-up on purchases and a mark-down on sales.
From early 2009 through 2012, Gonzalez De Hernandez participated in a bribery scheme in which she directed trading business she controlled at BANDES to the broker-dealer and, in return, agents and employees of the broker-dealer shared the revenue the broker-dealer generated from this trading business with her. During this time period, the broker-dealer generated over $60 million in mark-ups and mark-downs from trades with BANDES.
Gonzalez De Hernandez received a substantial share of the revenue generated by the broker-dealer for BANDES-related trades, totaling millions in bribe payments from broker-dealer agents and employees. To further conceal the scheme, the kickbacks to Gonzalez De Hernandez were often paid using intermediary corporations and offshore accounts that she and others held in Switzerland, among other places.
The case is a result of an ongoing investigation conducted by the FBI, with assistance from the SEC and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. Gonzalez De Hernandez is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15, 2014, before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer.
The charges against Gonzalez De Hernandez include conspiring to violate the Travel Act and to commit money laundering, as well as substantive counts of these offenses. The defendant’s guilty plea marks a significant blow to the corrupt official and serves as a reminder of the consequences of engaging in such illicit activities.
In related cases, three former employees of the broker-dealer – Ernesto Lujan, Jose Alejandro Hurtado, and Tomas Alberto Clarke Bethancourt – each pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), to violate the Travel Act and to commit money laundering, as well as substantive counts of these offenses, relating, among other things, to the scheme involving bribe payments to Gonzalez De Hernandez.
The investigation is ongoing, and the public is encouraged to report any suspicious activity to the authorities. As this case unfolds, it serves as a reminder of the importance of transparency and accountability in the financial sector.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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