The FBI has charged 22 people as part of a 2 1/2-year undercover investigation into a bribery scheme in which federal agents posed as arms-buying representatives of an African defense minister. Twenty one were arrested Monday as they prepared for the 2010 Shooting, Hunting & Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) at the Sands Expo & Convention Center, which started Tuesday. A 22nd defendant was arrested in Miami.
The defendants, including a senior Smith & Wesson sales official Amaro Goncalves, were accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to the sale of guns, body armour and other law enforcement equipment.
The defendants, who were executives and employees of 16 companies that supply military and police, had no apparent local connections beyond their presence in Las Vegas for the convention. Investigators would not reveal where the arrests took place.
According to the indictments unsealed Tuesday, the defendants arranged to sell their goods, including pistols, rifles, grenades and bulletproof vests, to outfit the presidential guard of an African country. As part of the sales they agreed to inflate their prices 20%as a “commission” to a sales agent, but the commission was intended as a bribe for the country's minister of defense to help secure a bigger contract, according to the indictments.
“This is one case where what happens in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said at a news conference, according to Reuters. He said the investigation was continuing and declined to say if any of the companies the defendants worked for faced prosecution.
The indictments, returned on December 11th, were unsealed by a US judge yesterday in Washington.
Among those charged was the chief executive of Protective Products of America, R Patrick Caldwell, who previously worked for the US Secret Service for 27 years and was in charge of the division for the vice president's protection.
Two defendants, Daniel Alvirez, 32, and Lee Allen Tolleson, 25, are the president and acquisitions director for one exhibitor, ALS Technologies, Inc., of Bull Shoals, Ark.
