|
Roberto Rincon, the president of Texas-based Tradequip Services
& Marine, was arrested on Wednesday in Houston on charges
including that he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and
engaged in money laundering, a Justice Department spokesman
said.
A second defendant, Abraham Jose Shiera Bastidas of Coral
Gables, Florida, was arrested on Wednesday in Miami on the same
charges plus one count, said the Justice Department spokesman,
Peter Carr.
The charges relate to what the Justice Department called a
fraudulent and corrupt scheme to secure energy contracts from
Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), Venezuela's state-owned
energy company.
Lawyers for Rincon, 55, and Shiera, 52, could not be identified
on Sunday.
Further details on the case were not immediately available. No
charging documents have been made public yet.
It was also not clear if case related to Tradequip, which
describes itself as an oil field supply company. The firm on its
website lists PDVSA as a client, and it is registered on
Venezuela's national contractors registry.
Tradequip did not respond to a call and email seeking comment.
PDVSA did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; additional reporting by
Marianna Parraga in Houston and Girish Gupta and Brian Ellsworth
in Caracas)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
