The FBI has charged 22 people, including a former U.S. Secret Service agent, 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 SHOT Show at the Sands Expo & Convention Center last week. A 22nd defendant was arrested in Miami.
The defendants, including a senior Smith & Wesson sales official Amaro Goncalves, among others, were accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to the sale of guns, body armor and other law enforcement equipment.
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.
Among those charged was the chief executive of Protective Products of America, R Patrick Caldwell, who previously worked for the U.S. Secret Service for 27 years and was in charge of the division for the Vice President's protection. Other defendants include Daniel Alvirez, 32, and Lee Allen Tolleson, 25, president and acquisitions director, respectively, for ALS Technologies, Inc.
