MIAMI
The former Comptroller General of Ecuador was indicted for allegedly engaging in a scheme to launder money to conceal an illegal bribery scheme, according to officials.
According to the March 24 indictment, between approximately 2010 and 2016, Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni (Polit), allegedly solicited and received over $10 million in bribe payments from Odebrecht S.A., the Brazil-based construction conglomerate, officials stated.
Additionally, Polit allegedly received a bribe from an Ecuadorian businessman around 2015.
The indictment alleges that, from in or around 2010 and continuing until at least 2017, at the direction of Polit, another member of the conspiracy made Polit’s bribery scheme “disappear.”
He used Florida companies registered in the names of certain associates, often without the associates’ knowledge.
The conspirators also used funds from Polit’s bribery scheme to purchase and renovate real estate in South Florida and elsewhere. He also purchased restaurants, a dry cleaner, and other businesses, according to the indictment.
Odebrecht S.A. pleaded guilty on Dec. 21, 2016, in federal court in New York to conspiring to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
This was in connection with a broader scheme to pay nearly $800 million in bribes to public officials in 12 countries, including Ecuador, officials allege.
Polit is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, three counts of concealment money laundering, and two counts of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property.
If convicted, he faces a long prison sentence.
HSI’s Miami Field Office is investigating the case.