United States v. Knut Hammarskjold (D.N.J. 2013)
United States v. Joseph Sigelman (D.N.J. 2013)
United States v. Gregory Weisman (D.N.J. 2013)
Case Details
- Case Name
- United States v. Knut Hammarskjold (D.N.J. 2013)
United States v. Joseph Sigelman (D.N.J. 2013)
United States v. Gregory Weisman (D.N.J. 2013)
- Foreign Official
- Official at Ecopetrol S.A., a state-owned and state-controlled petroleum company in Colombia.
- Nature of Business
- Knut Hammarskjold, Joseph Sigelman, and Gregory Weisman were each senior executives at the British Virgin Islands oil and gas company, PetroTiger Ltd. PetroTiger maintains operations in Colombia and New Jersey.
- Influence to be Obtained
- According to the DOJ, from around May 2010 to December 2010, Hammarskjold, Sigelman, and Weisman (together, the “Defendants”) paid bribes to an official at Ecopetrol—a Colombian state-owned and state-controlled petroleum company—to obtain approval to enter into an oil-related services contract with another company, Mansarovar Energy Colombia Ltd. The Defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribes by funneling payments through the Ecopetrol official’s wife and falsely claiming in documents that the payments were for finance and management consulting services that the official’s wife purportedly performed for PetroTiger. According to the DOJ, as a result of the bribes, PetroTiger obtained Ecopetrol’s approval to secure the Mansarovar contract.
- Enforcement
- On November 8, 2013, Hammarskjold, Sigelman, and Weisman were each charged in a sealed complaint filed in the District of New Jersey. Weisman surrendered to authorities and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA on November 8, 2013. Weisman was sentenced on September 10, 2015, to two years of probation and was ordered to pay a criminal fine of $30,000.
Hammarskjold was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport on November 20, 2013 and, on February 8, 2014, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. On September 14, 2015, Hammarskjold was sentenced to time served plus a two-year period of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $15,000 criminal fine along with restitution of $106,592.93.
Sigelman was arrested in the Philippines on January 3, 2014 and pleaded not guilty to the charges on May 14, 2014. Following a two-week trial beginning June 2, 2015, Sigelman and the government entered into a plea agreement after the government’s star witness at trial (Weisman) suffered substantial impeachment. Although portrayed in the press as a loss for the government, because it dismissed a substantive FCPA count, Sigelman nevertheless pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. Sigelman was sentenced on June 23, 2015, to three years of probation and was ordered to pay a $100,000 criminal fine along with restitution of $239,015.
- Amount of the Value
- Not Stated
- Amount of Business Related to Payment
- Approximately $39 million.
- Intermediary
- Foreign Official’s Wife.
- Citizenship of Parent Entity
- United States
- Reporting Requirements
- No
Defendants
Knut Hammarskjold
- Citation
- United States v. Hammarskjold, No. 1:14-cr-00065 (D.N.J. 2013);
- Other Statutory Provision
- None
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Domestic Concern
- Defendant's Citizenship
- United States
- Individual Sanction
- Time Served; $15,000 Criminal Fine.
Joseph Sigelman
- Citation
- United States v. Sigelman, No. 1:14-cr-00263 (D.N.J. 2013);
- Other Statutory Provision
- None
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Domestic Concern
- Defendant's Citizenship
- United States
- Individual Sanction
- Two Years of Probation; $30,000 Criminal Fine.
Gregory Weisman
- Citation
- United States v. Weisman, No. 1:13-cr-00730 (D.N.J. 2013).
- Other Statutory Provision
- None
- Disposition
- Plea Agreement
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Domestic Concern
- Defendant's Citizenship
- United States
- Individual Sanction
- Three Years of Probation; $100,000 Criminal Fine; $239,015 in Restitution.
