Ex-Energy Trader in US Pleads Guilty to International Bribery Scheme

A Texas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and engaging in interstate and foreign commerce to promote and to distribute the proceeds of commercial bribery for paying bribes to officials at PEMEX Procurement International (PPI), a wholly-owned affiliate of the Mexican state-owned oil company, PEMEX.

The plea follows Javier Aguilar's conviction at trial earlier this year in a related case for paying bribes to Ecuadorian officials and laundering the bribe money for both the Ecuador and Mexico bribery schemes.

When sentenced in both cases, Aguilar, 50, faces a maximum sentence of 40 years imprisonment as well as $7,129,938 in criminal forfeiture.

"With today's guilty plea the defendant admits his role in the widespread corruption of the international commodities market and to casting aside laws and rules that apply to all to unfairly line the pockets of the few," stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.

"The actions of the defendant and his co-conspirators, and of those who act similarly, destroys people's faith in their governments, disadvantages those who play by the rules, undermines confidence in American businesses worldwide, and will not be tolerated by this Office or our law enforcement partners."

Between 2015 and 2020, Aguilar was a trader in the Houston office of Vitol, Inc., the U.S. affiliate of the Vitol group of companies, which together form one of the world's largest energy trading firms.

As part of the scheme, Aguilar and his co-conspirators paid approximately $600,000 in bribes to two senior officials at PPI to obtain numerous contracts for Vitol to supply hundreds of millions of dollars of liquid ethane to PEMEX.

To conceal the scheme, Aguilar used a series of fake contracts, sham invoices and shell entities incorporated in Curaçao and Mexico.

He also used alias email accounts to communicate about the scheme, and code words, including "shoes," "medicine," "invitations" and "coffee," to describe the bribes.

"The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been the law of the land, and enforceable worldwide, for decades. Yet unscrupulous businessmen still try to bribe their way to profit," said Jeffrey B. Veltri, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI's Miami Field Office. "My message to them is that the charges and penalties you will face are not worth the gain."

In December 2020, Vitol admitted to bribing officials in Ecuador, Mexico, and Brazil in violation of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA.

Vitol entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of New York.

As a part of the resolution, Vitol agreed to pay a combined $135 million in penalties as part of a coordinated resolution with the Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and authorities in Brazil.

The FCPA conspiracy charge, based in the Southern District of Texas (SDTX), was initially filed in the EDNY in December 2022 as part of a superseding indictment consolidating both the Ecuador- and Mexico-related conduct.

In May 2023, the government consented to Aguilar's pre-trial motion to dismiss that charge in the EDNY on venue grounds. That charge and others related were then refiled in SDTX in August 2023.

As part of his guilty plea, Aguilar consented to transfer the SDTX case back to the EDNY, reconsolidating the cases.

Seven co-conspirators have pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the scheme and are awaiting sentencing. Together, these individuals have agreed to forfeit more than $63 million.