The FBI has charged 22 people with violating US bribery laws after an undercover sting in which federal agents posed as arms-buying representatives of an African defence minister.
The defendants, including a senior Smith & Wesson sales official Amaro Goncalves, were accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to the sale of guns, body armour and other law enforcement equipment.
The FCPA prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign officials in order to secure business contracts.
Twenty-one of the men were arrested in Las Vegas, where they were attending the SHOT Show, a large shooting-sports and hunting convention. The 22nd defendant was arrested in Miami.
"This is one case where what happens in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said at a news conference. He said the investigation was continuing and declined to say if any of the companies the defendants worked for faced prosecution.
The indictments, returned on December 11th, were unsealed by a US judge yesterday in Washington.
Among those charged was the chief executive of Protective Products of America, R Patrick Caldwell, who previously worked for the US Secret Service for 27 years and was in charge of the division for the vice president's protection.
As part of the FBI sting operation, an unidentified business associate who was a former executive for an arms manufacturer arranged a meeting between the arms sales representatives and undercover FBI agents who posed as representatives of an African country's minister of defence.
The agents told the sales representatives that in order to win a contract, they had to add a 20 per cent "commission" to price quotes, half of which would go to the purported minister of defence and the rest would be split between the others.
Reuters