Former energy trader for Vitol Inc. guilty in international bribery and money laundering scheme

HOUSTON - A 50-year-old former energy trader from Houston has pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme to bribe Mexican government officials to secure contracts for his then-employer Vitol Inc., the U.S. affiliate of the largest independent energy trading firm in the world.

According to court documents, Javier Aguilar and his co-conspirators paid approximately $600,000 in bribes to two senior officials at PEMEX Procurement International Inc. (PPI), a wholly owned affiliate of the Mexican state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), in exchange for assistance in winning business for Vitol.

"The Southern District of Texas (SDTX) is ground zero in the fight against foreign bribery and corruption in Latin America," said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. "My office's prosecutors - experts on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) - will continue to bring justice against those who damage the integrity of Texas's vital energy sector with illegal advantages fueled by greed. This guilty plea begins the process of repairing the damage caused by Aguilar as well as put on notice those who might seek to emulate him and his cohorts."

Aguilar was a trader in Vitol's Houston office. Between 2017 and 2020, he 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 ethane to PEMEX. To conceal the scheme, Aguilar and his co-conspirators used a series of fake contracts, sham invoices and shell entities incorporated in Curaçao and Mexico. Aguilar and others also used alias email accounts to communicate about the scheme and code words including "shoes," "medicine," "invitations" and "coffee," to describe the bribes.

"Javier Aguilar has now admitted that he bribed foreign officials to win business when he worked as an oil and gas trader at Vitol Inc., using shell companies, fake contracts, sham invoices and alias email accounts," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "Aguilar's guilty plea yesterday follows his conviction at trial on related charges earlier this year. His illegal conduct netted Vitol hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts, and now he will pay the price."

"With this 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 U.S. Attorney Breon Peace of the Eastern District of New York (EDNY). "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."

"The FCPA has been the law of the land, and enforceable worldwide, for decades. Yet unscrupulous businessmen still try to bribe their way to profit," said Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri 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. I want to commend the U.S Attorney's Offices for EDNY and SDTX and the Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs for their diligence pursuing this case, but especially the agents and analysts who leave no stone unturned in pursuit of FCPA violators."

Aguilar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA and to a violation of the Travel Act. The FCPA conspiracy charge, which an SDTX grand jury brought, related to conduct that was initially charged in the EDNY. As part of his guilty plea, Aguilar consented to transfer the Texas case to New York, to consolidate the cases and to forfeit $7,129,938. The plea follows Aguilar's related conviction at trial in February for conspiracy to violate the FCPA, violating the FCPA and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with schemes to bribe Ecuadorian and Mexican officials. At sentencing, he faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison on the money laundering conviction and five years on each of the other offenses.

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 in the EDNY. 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, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and authorities in Brazil.

Seven of Aguilar's co-conspirators have pleaded guilty for their role in the scheme and are awaiting sentencing. These individuals have agreed to forfeit more than $63 million in connection with this and related schemes.

FBI Miami's International Corruption Squad conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherin Daniel and Deputy Chief Suzanne Elmilady for the SDTX are prosecuting the case along with Trial Attorney Clayton P. Solomon and Assistant Chiefs Derek J. Ettinger and Jonathan P. Robell of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, Trial Attorney D. Hunter Smith and Deputy Chief Adam J. Schwartz of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and EDNY Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew R. Galeotti, Nick M. Axelrod and Jonathan P. Lax. MLARS Special Financial Investigations Unit and Justice Department's Office of International Affairs also provided substantial assistance.

The Criminal Division's Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting FCPA and Foreign Extortion Prevention Act matters. Additional information about the Justice Department's FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.

The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is led by a team of dedicated prosecutors in MLARS, in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies, and often with U.S. Attorneys' Offices, to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption. Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to [email protected] or https://tips.fbi.gov/.