MIAMI - A Georgia business owner has been convicted on federal charges of bribing foreign government officials, prosecutors announced.
What we know:
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami said a jury found Carl Alan Zaglin, 70, of Marietta, guilty of one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), one count of violating the FCPA, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The backstory:
Prosecutors said Zaglin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Honduran officials through a third-party intermediary in exchange for government contracts worth more than $10 million. The bribes were said to have taken place between March 2015 and Nov. 2019. Zaglin owned Atlanco LLC, which supplied uniforms and other goods to the Honduran National Police and other security agencies.
To hide the scheme, prosecutors said Zaglin and his co-conspirators used coded terms such as "commissions" and "fees" to refer to bribes. They allegedly referred to individuals by nicknames, created sham "brokerage agreements" to cover the payments, and communicated through personal emails and encrypted messaging apps. The bribe money was laundered through U.S.-based accounts and other countries, including Belize.
The investigation was led by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami Field Office, with assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and authorities in Belize, Colombia, and Spain.
What's next:
Zaglin faces up to 20 years on the money-laundering count and up to five years on each FCPA count.
The Source: Information in this article came from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami.