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John Davis Discusses DOJ's Pursuit of Individuals Due to Recent Indictments in the Anti-Corruption Report

Subtitle
"Recent Indictments Demonstrate DOJ's Pursuit of Individuals"

Anti-Corruption Report

John Davis commented in the Anti-Corruption Report on the indictments of the former Comptroller General of Ecuador Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni and former coal company executive Charles Hunter Hobson and how they underscore the Department of Justice's (DOJ) commitment to pursuing individuals as a means of reducing white-collar crime. The DOJ's actions are part of the agency's ongoing efforts to prosecute individuals on both sides of the corruption equation – payors and recipients – using the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other available laws, such as anti-money laundering laws. Polit was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, concealment of money laundering, and engaging in transactions in criminally derived property in Miami as part of the years-long Operation Car Wash investigations. "Ecuador has seen significant political fallout related to high-level corruption," Davis said, adding that, "this case is another in the long-running series of cases in the Operation Car Wash investigation brought by Brazil, the United States, and other authorities related to massive corruption schemes involving, in part, the Brazilian company Odebrecht, S.A."

Hobson, once a vice president at a Pennsylvania coal company, was indicted and accused of violating the FCPA, laundering money, and receiving kickbacks as part of a purported scheme to pay bribes to government officials in Egypt days after Polit's indictment was announced. The DOJ opted to pursue individuals first rather than the coal company itself. "The timing of these cases can be driven by many factors, and the available public information does not state what factors may be driving the various matters," Davis said. Both prisoners face possible prison time if convicted.