United States v. John W. Ashe, Francis Lorenzo, Ng Lap Seng, Jeff C. Yin, Shiwei Yan, and Heidi Hong Piao (S.D.N.Y. 2015)
United States v. Julia Vivi Wang (S.D.N.Y. 2016)
United States v. Ng Lap Seng and Jeff C. Yin (superseding indictment filed November 2016)
Case Details
- Case Name
- United States v. John W. Ashe, Francis Lorenzo, Ng Lap Seng, Jeff C. Yin, Shiwei Yan, and Heidi Hong Piao (S.D.N.Y. 2015)
United States v. Julia Vivi Wang (S.D.N.Y. 2016)
United States v. Ng Lap Seng and Jeff C. Yin (superseding indictment filed November 2016)
- Countries
- Antigua & Barbuda, China
- Foreign Official
- Permanent Representative of Antigua to the U.N. and U.N. General Assembly President (John W. Ashe); Deputy Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the U.N. and Special Advisor to the U.N. General Assembly President (Francis Lorenzo); Unnamed Antiguan Officials.
- Date of Conduct
-
2011 to 2015
- Nature of Business
- John W. Ashe was a lawful permanent resident of the United States who served as the U.N. Ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda and President of the U.N. General Assembly. Francis Lorenzo is a U.S. citizen who served as the Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. for the Dominican Republic and later Special Advisor to the President of the U.N. General Assembly.
Ng Lap Seng is a Chinese citizen and the head of a major real estate development company in Macau as well as the founder of an unnamed non-governmental organization. Jeff C. Yin is a U.S. citizen and served as the principal assistant to Ng.
Shiwei Yan is a U.S. citizen and is the chief executive officer of an unnamed non-governmental organization based in New York. Heidi Hong Piao is a U.S. citizen and was the finance director of the non-governmental organization associated with Yan.
Julia Vivi Wang is a U.S. citizen and the vice president of two non-governmental organizations in New York.
- Influence to be Obtained
- According to the DOJ, from at least 2011 to 2014, Ashe solicited and accepted bribes while serving as the U.N. Ambassador for Antigua and the President of the U.N. General Assembly from Ng, Yin, Yan, Piao, and Wang. The alleged bribes were made in exchange for Ashe’s willingness to perform certain official acts on behalf of the U.N. and Antigua for the benefit of Ng, Yin, Yan, Piao, and Wang. According to court documents, the alleged corruption involved three separate bribery schemes discussed below.
First, the DOJ claims that Ng and Yin funneled Ashe and Lorenzo hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for Ashe’s willingness to advance Ng’s business interests. Specifically, Ng allegedly paid or agreed to pay bribes in exchange for Ashe’s support for the construction of a multi-billion dollar conference center that Ng hoped to build in Macau, China for the purpose of hosting future U.N. events. Separately, Ng is accused of making improper payments to Ashe to obtain access to potentially lucrative investment opportunities in Antigua. During the course of the scheme, the DOJ claims that Yin served as Ng’s principal representative, often coordinating the transactions on Ng’s behalf. Separately, according to the DOJ, Lorenzo served as Ashe’s special advisor and, in addition to receiving improper payments of his own, used his position to aid Ng, Yin, and Ashe to facilitate the alleged bribery scheme.
Second, according to the DOJ, Yan and Piao separately funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to Ashe on behalf of multiple Chinese businessmen in exchange for Ashe’s willingness to grant the businessmen access to lucrative investments and government contracts in Antigua.
Third, the DOJ claims that Wang funneled Ashe at least $500,000 to purchase Antiguan diplomatic positions for her late husband and another Chinese businessman.
- Enforcement
- On October 6, 2015, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that Ashe, Lorenzo, Ng, Yin, and Piao had been arrested and would be charged with multiple criminal counts of inter alia bribery, money laundering, and tax fraud. Wang was separately arrested and charged on March 17, 2016 with conspiracy and money laundering.
On October 22, 2015, Ashe pleaded not guilty to two counts of tax fraud. In June 2016, Ashe died and the charges against him were dropped.
On January 14, 2016, Piao pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, money laundering, bribery, and failure to file reports of a foreign bank and financial records. Piao was sentenced on March 5, 2021 to time served and two years of supervised release.
On January 20, 2016, Yan pleaded guilty to one count of bribery. On August 4, 2016, Yan was sentenced to 20 months in prison and two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $12,500 fine.
On March 16, 2016, Lorenzo pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, bribery, money laundering, tax fraud, and failure to file reports of a foreign bank and financial records. Lorenzo was sentenced on December 9, 2019 to time served and two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $243,965 in restitution.
On July 21, 2016, Wang pleaded not guilty to the charges, but in April 2018, Wang pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions, violations of the anti-bribery provision of the FCPA, and filing false income tax returns. Wang was sentenced on June 26, 2019 to time served and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $629,295 in restitution.
On November 22, 2016, the DOJ filed a superseding indictment against Ng and Yin charging the two defendants with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and two substantive counts of violating the FCPA—in addition to conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, bribery, and obstruction of justice. Yin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the IRS and was sentenced on March 26, 2018 to seven months in prison and two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $61,674 in restitution. On July 27, 2017, Ng was convicted on all counts by a jury following a four-week trial. Seng was sentenced to 48 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay a $1 million fine, $302,977 in restitution to the United Nations, and a forfeiture money judgment of $1.5 million.
- Amount of the Value
- Approximately $1.2 million.
- Amount of Business Related to Payment
- Not Stated.
- Citizenship of Parent Entity
- Antigua & Barbuda
- Total Sanction
- $ 2,802,977
- Reporting Requirements
- No
- Total Combined Monetary Sanction
- $ 3,750,411
- Regions
- Asia, Latin Amer. & Carib
Defendants
John Ashe
- Citation
- United States v. Ashe, et al., No. 1:15-cr-00706 (S.D.N.Y. 2015);
- Other Statutory Provision
- Tax Fraud
- Disposition
- Charges Dismissed
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Territorial Jurisdiction
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Antigua & Barbuda
- Individual Sanction
- Not Sentenced
Francis Lorenzo
- Citation
- United States v. Ashe, et al., No. 1:15-cr-00706 (S.D.N.Y. 2015);
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Bribery); Bribery; Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Tax Fraud; Willful Failure to File Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Records; Criminal Forfeiture.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Unknown
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Dominican Republic
- Individual Sanction
- $243,965; time served; 2-years supervised release
Ng Lap Seng
- Citation
- United States v. Ashe, et al., No. 1:15-cr-00706 (S.D.N.Y. 2015); United States v. Ng, et al., No. 1:15-cr-00706 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).
- FCPA Statutory Provision
-
- Conspiracy
- Conspiracy: Anti-Bribery
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Bribery); Bribery; Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Criminal Forfeiture.
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Territorial Jurisdiction
- Individual Sanction
- $2,802,977; 48-month Imprisonment.
Jeff Yin
- Citation
- United States v. Ashe, et al., No. 1:15-cr-00706 (S.D.N.Y. 2015); United States v. Ng, et al., No. 1:15-cr-00706 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Bribery); Bribery; Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Criminal Forfeiture; Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Corrupt Attempt to Impede Due Administration of the Internal Revenue Code.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Territorial Jurisdiction
- Individual Sanction
- $61,674; 7-month imprisonment; 2-years supervised release.
Shiwei Yan
- Citation
- United States v. Ashe, et al., No. 1:15-cr-00706 (S.D.N.Y. 2015)
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Bribery); Bribery; Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Criminal Forfeiture.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Unknown
- Individual Sanction
- $12,500; 20-Months Imprisonment; 2-Years Supervised Release.
Heidi Hong Piao
- Citation
- United States v. Ashe, et al., No. 1:15-cr-00706 (S.D.N.Y. 2015).
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Bribery); Bribery; Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Willful Failure to File Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Records; Criminal Forfeiture.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Unknown
- Individual Sanction
- Time served; 2 years supervised release.
Julia Vivi Wang
- Citation
- United States v. Wang, No. 1:16-cr-00495 (S.D.N.Y. 2016)
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Unknown
- Individual Sanction
- $629,295; time served; 3-years supervised release.
