On December 4, 2009, the DOJ filed a 21-count indictment charging Esquenazi, Rodriguez, and Grandison with conspiring to violate and violating the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, money laundering, and other offenses. Duperval and Antoine, the alleged recipients of the bribes, are charged with money laundering, not FCPA violations. On July 13, 2011, a superseding indictment was filed against Washington Vasconez Cruz, Amadeus Richers, Cinergy Telecommunications, Inc., Patrick Joseph, Jean Rene Duperval and Marguerite Grandison.
A special unit of the Haitian National Police arrested Duperval in Haiti and expelled him to the U.S. to face charges. Antoine pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, and on June 1, 2010, he was sentenced to 48 months in prison. On May 29, 2012, Antoine’s sentence was reduced to 18 months upon motion by the DOJ. In April 2009, alleged co-conspirators Diaz and Antonio Perez pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provision and to commit money laundering.
On January 19, 2012, a second superseding indictment was filed against Vasconez, Richers, Cinergy, Joseph, Duperval, and Grandison, with the addition of Vasconez’s wife, Cecilia Zurita (former Vice President of Cinergy).
On February 24, 2012, the court issued an order of dismissal as to Cinergy after the government learned that Cinergy was a non-operational entity that effectively exists only on paper. Cinergy then filed a petition for re-hearing on, or in the alternative, clarification of, the order of dismissal. The court denied the motion, and Cinergy filed, and subsequently voluntarily dismissed, an appeal to the Eleventh Circuit.
Duperval’s trial began on March 1, 2012. He was found guilty on all counts, and he was sentenced to 108 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release, along with a $2,100 assessment.
On February 8, 2012, Joseph pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison on July 6, 2012.
In February 2012, Grandison entered into an 18-month pretrial diversion agreement with the DOJ. Upon successful completion of the diversion program in August 2013, the charges against Grandison were dismissed on September 24, 2013.
The court denied multiple motions to dismiss filed by Esquenazi, including one motion to dismiss challenging whether Duperval and Antoine are foreign officials within the meaning of the FCPA. On November 25, 2010, as a result of a redacted confession by Duperval, Judge Jose E. Martinez ordered the trial of Esquenazi and Rodriguez severed from the trial of Duperval and Grandison. The trial of Esquenazi and Rodriguez began on July 18, 2011, and both were convicted on all counts on August 5, 2011. On October 13, 2011, the court denied motions for judgment of acquittal and a new trial filed by Esquenazi and Rodriguez. On October 25, 2011, Esquenazi was sentenced to 15 years in prison, the longest sentence imposed to date in a case involving violations of the FCPA. Rodriguez was sentenced to 84 months. The defendants were also ordered to forfeit $3.09 million. After appealing the decision, on May 16, 2014, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the lower court’s convictions and elected to broadly define the meaning of “foreign official” under the FCPA. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Esquenazi’s petition for certiorari on October 6, 2014.
Vasconez, Zurita, and Richers are fugitives.
The DOJ acknowledged the substantial assistance of Haitian authorities in the investigation.
