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 The details came a day after the U.S. Justice Department confirmed
that authorities had arrested Roberto Rincon, a Venezuelan citizen
who is president of Texas-based Tradequip Services & Marine.
According to an indictment made public on Monday, Rincon and
Venezuelan businessman Abraham Jose Shiera Bastidas conspired to pay
bribes to officials to secure contracts from Petroleos de Venezuela
S.A. (PDVSA), Venezuela's state-owned oil company.
The indictment said five PDVSA officials, whom it did not name,
received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes made principally
in the form of wire transfers but also through mortgage payments,
airlines tickets and, in one case, whiskey.
The bribes also included a $14,502 reservation for a PDVSA official
at the luxury Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, the indictment said.
According to a court order in the case, from 2009 to 2014, more than
$1 billion was traced to the conspiracy, $750 million of which was
traced to Rincon, who lives in Texas.
To one official alone, Rincon paid $2.5 million in bribes, the order
said.
The indictment charges that Rincon, 55, and Shiera, 52, violated the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspired to launder money.
"Mr. Rincon denies the allegations made against him in the
indictment and looks forward to the opportunity to challenge the
government's case," said Samuel Louis, his lawyer.
A lawyer for Shiera, who resides in Florida, did not respond to a
request for comment. Shiera is the manager of Vertix Instrumentos, a
Venezuelan supplier to the oil sector.
Both men were arrested on Dec. 16 and have been held without bail.
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In an order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson in Houston
detailing why she on Saturday denied Rincon bail, she noted Rincon
has a "close personal friendship" with retired Venezuelan General
Hugo Carvajal.
Carvajal, Venezuela's former military intelligence chief, was
arrested in 2014 in Aruba on U.S. drug trafficking charges, but
Aruba authorities declined to extradite him. Carvajal had been
arrested on Rincon's privately-owned airplane, according to
Johnson's order.
It remains unclear if the case against Rincon and Shiera relates 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 on Monday declined comment. PDVSA did not respond to an
email seeking comment.
The case is U.S. v. Rincon-Fernandez, U.S. District Court, Southern
District of Texas, No. 15-cr-654.
(Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Alexandra Ulmer in
Caracas; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
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