United States v. Tomas Alberto Clarke Bethancourt (S.D.N.Y. 2013)
United States v. Jose Alejandro Hurtado (S.D.N.Y. 2013)
United States v. Maria de los Angeles Gonzalez de Hernandez (S.D.N.Y. 2013)
United States v. Ernesto Lujan (S.D.N.Y. 2013)
United States v. Benito Chinea and Joseph DeMeneses (S.D.N.Y. 2014)
Case Details
- Case Name
- United States v. Tomas Alberto Clarke Bethancourt (S.D.N.Y. 2013)
United States v. Jose Alejandro Hurtado (S.D.N.Y. 2013)
United States v. Maria de los Angeles Gonzalez de Hernandez (S.D.N.Y. 2013)
United States v. Ernesto Lujan (S.D.N.Y. 2013)
United States v. Benito Chinea and Joseph DeMeneses (S.D.N.Y. 2014)
- Foreign Official
- Maria de los Angeles Gonzalez de Hernandez (“Gonzalez”), a senior official at BANDES.
- Date of Conduct
-
2008 to 2011
- Nature of Business
- U.S. employees of Direct Access Partners LLC (“DAP”), a New York broker-dealer, were charged with paying bribes to a senior government official in Venezuela’s state-owned economic development bank, Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela (“BANDES”), to obtain business for the broker-dealer. Tomas Alberto Clarke Bethancourt (“Clarke”) is a U.S. citizen and, beginning in or around 2008, was the Senior Vice President in the Global Markets Group of DAP. Clarke was listed as the account opening salesman for the BANDES account. Jose Alejandro Hurtado, a U.S. citizen, was an employee of DAP. Ernesto Lujan, also a U.S. citizen, was the Managing Partner of the Global Markets Group of DAP and ran its Miami office beginning in approximately 2008. Benito Chinea and Joseph DeMeneses were both senior executives at DAP’s New York headquarters.
- Influence to be Obtained
- From at least December 2008 to October 2010, the DOJ alleges that Lujan, Clarke, and Hurtado paid bribes to Gonzalez. According to the criminal Complaint and subsequent criminal Informations, the parties allegedly attempted to conceal the payments by passing them through a number of intermediary corporations and accounts in Switzerland. At least $9.5 million was allegedly transferred from DAP to a Swiss bank account controlled by Clarke, who in turn transferred at least $6.5 million to a Swiss bank account controlled by Lujan. Lujan allegedly transferred at least $1.5 million of that money to a Swiss bank account controlled by Gonzales. Both Chinea and DeMeneses, senior executives at DAP, were aware of the scheme and allegedly authorized the payments.
The court filings also allege that Clarke, Hurtado, Lujan, Chinea, and DeMeneses conspired to transfer the money to accounts outside of the U.S. to conceal the payments and route them to Hernandez and that the parties violated the Travel Act.
- Enforcement
- The criminal complaint against Clarke, Hurtado, and Gonzalez was filed in March 2013, but it was unsealed only after the three were arrested in Miami on May 3, 2013. Ernesto Lujan was charged and arrested in June 2013.
On August 30, 2013, Clarke, Hurtado, and Lujan pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the FCPA, to violate the Travel Act, and to commit money laundering, as well as substantive counts of these offenses. Lujan and Clark were sentenced to two years imprisonment on December 4, and December 8, 2015, and were ordered to forfeit $18.5 million and $5.8 million, respectively. Hurtado was sentenced on December 15, 2015, to three years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11.9 million.
On November 18, Gonzalez pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering and violating the Travel Act, as well as conspiracy and is currently awaiting sentencing. On January 19, 2016, Gonzalez was sentenced to time served and ordered to forfeit more than $8 million in ill-gotten gains.
In April 2014, separate charges were filed against Chinea and DeMeneses, who surrendered to authorities. Both Chinea and DeMeneses later pleaded guilty to one count of violating the FCPA in December 2014 and were sentenced on March 31, 2015. Both Chinea and DeMeneses were sentenced to 48 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and were each ordered to pay a $40,000 criminal fine. In addition, Chinea was ordered to forfeit $3,636,432 while DeMeneses was ordered to forfeit $2,670,612.
Parallel SEC proceedings were commenced against Clarke, Hurtado, Lujan, Chinea, and DeMeneses for securities fraud. Parallel SEC proceedings were commenced against Clarke, Hurtado, Lujan, Chinea, and DeMeneses for securities fraud.
- Amount of the Value
- $3.6 million.
- Amount of Business Related to Payment
- $60 million.
- Intermediary
- Shell Entity.
- Citizenship of Parent Entity
- United States
- Reporting Requirements
- No
Defendants
Tomas Alberto Clarke Bethancourt
- Citation
- United States v. Clarke, No. 1:13-cr-00670 (S.D.N.Y. 2013);
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Conspiracy (Travel Act); Travel Act.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Domestic Concern
- Defendant's Citizenship
- United States
- Individual Sanction
- Two-Years Imprisonment; Forfeiture of $5.8 million.
Jose Alejandro Hurtado
- Citation
- United States v. Hurtado, No. 1:13-cr-00673 (S.D.N.Y. 2013);
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Conspiracy (Travel Act); Travel Act.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Domestic Concern
- Defendant's Citizenship
- United States
- Individual Sanction
- Three-Years Imprisonment; Forfeiture of $11.9 million.
Maria de los Angeles Gonzalez de Hernandez
- Citation
- United States v. Gonzalez, No. 1:13-cr-00901 (S.D.N.Y. 2013);
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Conspiracy (Travel Act); Travel Act.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Unknown
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Venezuela
- Individual Sanction
- Time Served; Forfeiture of $8.3 million.
Ernesto Lujan
- Citation
- United States v. Lujan, No. 1:13 cr-00671 (S.D.N.Y. 2013);
- Other Statutory Provision
- Conspiracy (Money Laundering); Money Laundering; Conspiracy (Travel Act); Travel Act.
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Domestic Concern
- Defendant's Citizenship
- United States
- Individual Sanction
- Two-Years Imprisonment; Forfeiture of $18.5 million.
Benito Chinea
- Citation
- United States v. Chinea, No. 1:14 cr 00240 (S.D.N.Y. 2014)
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Domestic Concern
- Defendant's Citizenship
- United States
- Individual Sanction
- 48-Months Imprisonment; Forfeiture of $3.6 million.
Joseph DeMeneses
- Citation
- United States v. Chinea, No. 1:14 cr 00240 (S.D.N.Y. 2014)
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Domestic Concern
- Defendant's Citizenship
- United States
- Individual Sanction
- 48-Months Imprisonment; Forfeiture of $2.7 million.
