2 energy-industry businessmen plead guilty in Houston to foreign bribery charges in connection with Venezuelan contract scheme

HOUSTON — Two energy-industry businessmen based in Florida and South Texas pleaded guilty Tuesday to foreign bribery charges for their roles in a scheme to corruptly secure contracts from Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).

These guilty pleas were announced by the following agency heads: Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Mark Dawson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Houston, and Special Agent in Charge Richard Goss of Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

Juan Jose Hernandez Comerma (Hernandez), 51, of Weston, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one count of violating the FCPA. Hernandez  is a former general manager and partial owner of a Florida-based energy company. Charles Quintard Beech III, 46, of Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. Beech is an owner of multiple Texas-based energy companies. U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller of the Southern District of Texas accepted the guilty pleas.  Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled for July 14. 

According to admissions made in connection with Hernandez’s plea, Hernandez conspired with U.S.-based businessmen Abraham Jose Shiera Bastidas (Shiera) and Roberto Enrique Rincon Fernandez (Rincon) to pay bribes and other things of value to PDVSA purchasing analysts.  This ensured that Shiera’s and Rincon’s companies were placed on PDVSA bidding panels, which enabled the companies to win lucrative PDVSA energy contracts.  From 2008 until 2012, Hernandez admitted that, while general manager and later partial owner of one of Shiera’s companies, he provided recreational travel and entertainment and offered bribes to PDVSA officials, including Alfonzo Eliezer Gravina Munoz (Gravina), based on a percentage of contracts the officials helped to award to Shiera’s companies.  Rincon, Shiera and Gravina have all also pleaded guilty in this case.

According to admissions made in connection with Beech’s plea, from 2011 to 2012, Beech paid bribes to multiple PDVSA officials, including Gravina.  In exchange for these bribes, they assisted placing Beech’s companies on PDVSA bidding panels and assisted Beech’s company or companies to receive payment for previously awarded PDVSA contracts.  Beech also admitted that he agreed with others, including PDVSA officials, to engage in financial transactions to conceal the nature, source and ownership of the bribe proceeds.

In addition to Hernandez and Beech, the Justice Department announced the guilty pleas of six other individuals as part of a larger, ongoing investigation by the U.S. government into bribery at PDVSA.

Trial Attorneys Aisling O’Shea and Jeremy R. Sanders of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Pearson and Robert S. Johnson, Southern District of Texas are prosecuting this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristine Rollinson and Vincent Carroll, Southern District of Texas, are handling the forfeiture aspects of this case.

The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the Swiss Federal Office of Justice also provided assistance. 

The Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting all FCPA matters.  Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.