Samuel Mebiame, Bribery, New York 2016

Grimy Times Exclusives

A Gabonese-French dual citizen has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to senior government officials across Africa, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Samuel Mebiame, 43, who resided in Paris prior to his arrest, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York. Mebiame pleaded guilty on Dec. 9, 2016, to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA.

According to admissions made at his plea hearing, Mebiame formed a conspiracy to provide improper benefits to government officials in multiple countries in Africa. Mebiame admitted that the improper benefits he provided were intended to influence the performance of official governmental duties, and that he took steps to further the conspiracy while physically in New York.

Mebiame worked as a “fixer” on behalf of a joint venture company owned by New-York-based hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (Och-Ziff) and its business partner, a Turks and Caicos Islands-registered corporate entity controlled by a co-conspirator. In that role, Mebiame traveled extensively across Africa, Europe and the U.S. and routinely made bribe payments to senior government officials in Africa.

The bribes paid by Mebiame to the officials were often masked through additional intermediaries or attorneys. In Niger, Mebiame paid more than $3 million in bribes to a high-ranking government official both directly and through intermediary agents who were selected by the Nigerien official. Mebiame also made payments for luxury cars for that foreign official and directed a $100,000 donation to a charity run by a government official.

Mebiame’s plea documents indicate that he repeatedly traveled to the United States between 2007 and 2015, the period of the criminal acts, and used facilities in both New York and Florida to further the conspiracy. Among other activities undertaken by Mebiame cited in court papers, he met with co-conspirators in New York, received funds from co-conspirators to U.S. bank accounts he controlled, and had telephone calls and email correspondence about the scheme.

Following Mebiame’s arrest in Brooklyn last August, as part of the ongoing investigation, Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Rohde of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Acting Special Agent in Charge Ronald L. Whitsett of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)’s New York office made the announcement.

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