TIGO Guatemala, Foreign Bribery, Florida 2025

TIGO Guatemala Paid Over $118M To Resolve Foreign Bribery Investigation

MIAMI – In November 2025, Comunicaciones Celulares S.A., doing business as TIGO Guatemala, a mobile and fixed telecommunications service provider in Guatemala, paid over $118 million to resolve an investigation by the Justice Department into a long-running scheme to bribe government officials in Guatemala.

TIGO Guatemala is a wholly owned subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular, S.A. (“Millicom”), an international telecommunications company incorporated and headquartered in Luxembourg that has its principal place of business in the United States.

TIGO Guatemala entered into a two-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in connection with a criminal information filed in the Southern District of Florida charging the company with one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

“This case exposes how corruption undermines democratic institutions and fair markets,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “For years, TIGO Guatemala bought political influence through a systematic bribery scheme using illicit cash, including proceeds tied to narcotrafficking. That conduct is not a cost of doing business—it is a crime. As a result, the company was made to pay a $60 million criminal penalty and forfeit nearly another $60 million in ill-gotten profits. This resolution reflects the seriousness of the offense and reinforces that real accountability and compliance are the price of operating under the rule of law.”

According to court documents, between 2012 and 2018, TIGO Guatemala engaged in a widespread and systematic bribery scheme orchestrated by its then-Guatemalan shareholder and other then-senior personnel. The scheme featured monthly bribe payments, usually paid in cash, to numerous Guatemalan members of Congress or members of their security teams, in exchange for, among other things, their support for legislation that benefited TIGO Guatemala. Some of the cash that TIGO Guatemala used to pay bribes were the laundered proceeds of narcotrafficking.

As part of the DPA, TIGO Guatemala agreed to pay a $60 million criminal penalty and $58,198,343 in administrative forfeiture. Pursuant to the DPA, TIGO Guatemala and its corporate parent, Millicom, agreed, among other things, to continue cooperating with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida in any ongoing or future criminal investigation arising during the term of the DPA. TIGO Guatemala and Millicom also agreed to enhance TIGO Guatemala’s compliance program and to periodically report to the department on remediation and implementation of compliance measures throughout the term of the DPA.

The defendant/respondent is: Comunicaciones Celulares S.A. (TIGO Guatemala).

The exact criminal charges are: one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

The city and state are: Miami, Florida.

The exact date is: November 2025.

The sentence or outcome is: paid over $118 million to resolve the investigation.

The dollar amounts are: $60 million criminal penalty and $58,198,343 in administrative forfeiture.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

Public Corruption|White Collar Crime

Willie Andrew Sharp, Theft, Montana 2023

Feb 5, 2019

Public Corruption|White Collar Crime

Jason Dewayne Cross, Embezzlement, Kentucky 2021

Sep 15, 2023

Public Corruption|White Collar Crime

Brandon Lee Scott, Credit Card Theft, Texas 2013

Apr 30, 2015

Public Corruption|White Collar Crime

Christopher Petrella, Obstruction of Justice, South Carolina 2019

Oct 19, 2018