United States v. Dmitrij Harder (E.D. Pa. 2015)

• Case Name
• United States v. Dmitrij Harder (E.D. Pa. 2015)

• Date Filed
• 01/27/2015

• Enforcement Agency
• DOJ

• Foreign Official
• A foreign official who served as a senior banker working in the Natural Resources Group at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

• Date of Conduct
• 2007 to 2009

• Nature of Business
• Dmitrij Harder is the former owner and President of Chestnut Consulting Group Inc. and Chestnut Consulting Group Co.  The Chestnut Group provides consulting and other services to companies seeking financing from multilateral development banks.

• Influence to be Obtained
• According to the DOJ, beginning in 2007, Harder bribed an official at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”) in exchange for the bank’s decision to offer two of Harder’s clients millions of dollars in financing.  As a result of these payments, the Chestnut Group allegedly secured approvals on two applications for financing for two of Chestnut Group’s corporate clients.  The first resulted in an $85 million investment and a €90 million loan and the second resulted in a $40 million investment and a $60 million loan.
  
  The DOJ’s indictment claims that two unnamed companies agreed to pay Harder a “success fee” of a certain percentage of the funds obtained as part of the financing from the EBRD.  According to  the DOJ, Harder was paid approximately $8 million in success fees as a result of the EBRD’s approval of his clients’ financing applications and subsequently wired a portion of those funds to a series of bank accounts belonging to the EBRD official’s sister.  The DOJ claims that the funds Harder wired to the EBRD official’s sister were bribe payments for the benefit of the EBRD official.
  
  The DOJ alleges that Harder attempted to conceal the payments by creating false paperwork to make it appear as though the EBRD official’s sister had provided consulting and other business services in exchange for the payments.  According to the DOJ, the EBRD official’s sister provided no such services.

• Enforcement
• On January 6, 2015, Harder was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly violating the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions and the Travel Act for his participation in a scheme to bribe the foreign European banking official.  Harder was also indicted for money laundering and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.  After initially pleading not guilty to the charges, on April 20, 2016 Harder pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the FCPA.  On July 18, 2017, the district court sentenced Harder to 60 months in prison.

• Amount of the Value
• More than $3.5 million.

• Amount of Business Related to Payment
• Approximately $8 million in “success fees.”

• Intermediary
• Sister of the Foreign Official.

• Citizenship of Parent Entity
• Russia, Germany

• Compliance Monitor
• No

• Reporting Requirements
• No

• Case is Pending?
• No

Dmitrij Harder

• Citation
• United States v. Harder, No. 2:15-cr-00001 (E.D. Pa. 2015).

• Date Filed
• 01/27/2015

• Filed Under Seal
• No

• FCPA Statutory Provision
• • Anti-Bribery

• Other Statutory Provision
• None

• Disposition
• Plea Agreement

• Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
• Domestic Concern

• Defendant's Citizenship
• Russia, Germany

• Individual Sanction
• 60-Months Imprisonment.