A federal judge today sentenced a Virginia businessman to a little more than seven years in prison for bribing former Panamanian officials, marking the longest-ever sentence imposed in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecution, the Justice Department said.
Charles Jumet, 53, pleaded guilty in November in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Richmond, to conspiring to violate the FCPA and to making a false statement to federal agents. Prosecutors said $212,400 in bribes made by Jumet and others between 1997 and 2003 were meant to secure maritime contracts—including the maintenance of lighthouses and buoys along Panama’s waterways.
Jumet, vice president of a company called Ports Engineering Consultants Corporation, faced a guideline sentence of 87 to 108 months, court records show. Federal prosecutors Michael Dry, an assistant U.S. attorney in Richmond, and Rina Harris, a Fraud Section trial attorney, asked for 87 months in the government’s sentencing recommendation.
“Today’s sentence—the longest ever imposed for violating the FCPA—is an important milestone in our effort to deter foreign bribery,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in a statement. “As this case confirms, foreign corruption carries with it very serious penalties, which can include substantial prison time for individuals who violate the law.”
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Henry Hudson ordered Jumet to pay a $15,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release. Jumet’s lawyer, Robert Wagner of the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Virginia, was not immediately reached for comment in his office or by e-mail.
The president of Ports Engineering Consultants Corporation, John Warwick, pleaded guilty in February for his role in the bribery conspiracy. Warwick is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
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