A former energy trader faces jail over his role in a scheme to pay bribes to the Mexican government to win contracts for his employer.
Javier Aguilar, 50, of Houston, was working for Vitol.Inc at the time.
Court documents show he and his co-conspirators paid approximately $600,000 in bribes to two senior officials at PEMEX Procurement International, Inc. (PPI). This is a wholly owned affiliate of the Mexican state-owned oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). The money wasin exchange for assistance in winning business for Vitol.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said:
“Javier Aguilar has now admitted that he bribed foreign officials to win business when he worked as an oil and gas trader at Vitol Inc., using shell companies, fake contracts, sham invoices, and alias email accounts.
“Aguilar’s guilty plea yesterday follows his conviction at trial on related charges earlier this year. His illegal conduct netted Vitol hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts, and now he will pay the price.”
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York, added:
“With yesterday's guilty plea, the defendant admits his role in the widespread corruption of the international commodities market and to casting aside laws and rules that apply to all to unfairly line the pockets of the few.
“The actions of the defendant and his co-conspirators, and of those who act similarly, destroy people’s faith in their governments, disadvantage those who play by the rules, undermine confidence in American businesses worldwide, and will not be tolerated by this Office or our law enforcement partners.”
Between 2017 and 2020, Aguilar, who was a trader in Vitol’s Houston office. He and his co-conspirators paid approximately $600,000 in bribes to two senior officials at PPI to obtain numerous contracts for Vitol to supply hundreds of millions of dollars of ethane to PEMEX.
They tried to hide the scheme using a series of fake contracts, sham invoices and shell entities incorporated in Curaçao and Mexico. Aguilar and his co-conspirators also used alias email accounts to communicate about the scheme and code words, including “shoes,” “medicine,” “invitations,” and “coffee,” to describe the bribes.
Aguilar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to a violation of the Travel Act.
The FCPA conspiracy charge was brought by a grand jury in the Southern District of Texas. It relates to conduct that was initially charged in the Eastern District of New York.
As part of the guilty plea, Aguilar consented to transfer the Texas case to New York, to consolidate the cases, and to forfeit $7,129,938.
In February, he was convicted of:
Conspiracy to violate the FCPA,
Violating the FCPA
Conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with schemes to bribe Ecuadorian and Mexican officials
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on the money laundering offense and five years’ imprisonment on each of the other offenses. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Vitol's punishment
In December 2020, Vitol admitted bribing officials in Ecuador, Mexico, and Brazil in violation of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA.
The company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York. As a part of the resolution, Vitol agreed to pay a combined $135 million in penalties as part of a coordinated resolution with the Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and authorities in Brazil.
Seven of Aguilar's co-conspirators have pleaded guilty for their role in the scheme and are awaiting sentencing. These people have agreed to forfeit more than $63 million in connection with this and related schemes.
