Petrobras: USA accuse executives of paying bribes – 02/17/2023 – Market

The US Department of Justice reported this Friday (17) that Connecticut state attorneys are accusing two executives of corruption to close contracts with Petrobras between 2010 and 2018.

The accused are the American Glenn Oztemel and the Italian-Brazilian Eduardo Inecco, who work in the oil, gas and fuel import and export segment. According to investigations, they paid bribes to state-owned executives to benefit two American companies.

Petrobras said, through its press office, that it is a victim of the crimes and that it has collaborated with investigations both in Brazil and in the United States since 2014. Folha has not yet managed to contact Oztemel and Inecco.

They are accused of conspiracy, violating US anti-corruption law and money laundering, crimes that carry sentences of up to 25 years in prison. The chaos is investigated by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Intelligence), the American federal police.

The Justice Department does not release the names of the companies. Oztemel worked for Freepoint Commodities, based in Stamford, Connecticut. Inecco was a consultant in Brazil for the investigated companies.

The Justice Department says Oztemel and Inneco used coded language to refer to kickbacks and communicated with each other and their cronies using personal email accounts, fictitious names and encrypted messaging apps.

According to Reuters, Oztemel was arrested on Wednesday (15) in Florida, but released after payment of US$ 3 million in bail.

Freepoint was investigated by Operation Lava Jato, as part of a corruption scheme in the sale of oil and derivatives, which also involved the payment of bribes in the form of commissions to close contracts.

In 2020, a former Petrobras operator named Rodrigo Garcia Berkowitz signed a plea agreement to speak about the scheme. Berkowitz served as a trader for Petrobras in Houston until late 2018, when he was accused of accepting kickbacks.

Other companies in the sector investigated in Brazil, such as trading companies Glencore and Vitol, agreed to pay fines abroad to end negotiations on kickbacks in Petrobras contracts.

In a note, Petrobras says that it is a victim of the crimes unveiled by Operation Lava-Jato, “being recognized as such by the Federal Public Ministry and the Federal Supreme Court”, acts as a co-plaintiff in 32 actions of administrative improbity and is assistant to the prosecution in 90 criminal actions.

“The company has been collaborating with investigations since 2014, including the investigations by the DoJ (US Department of Justice), which motivated the reported action”, says the note.

“It should be noted that Petrobras (including its subsidiaries) has already received over R$ 6.7 billion in compensation as a result of collaboration agreements, leniency, repatriations and waivers related to the offenses of which it was a victim.”