Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. ("PDVSA'') was the state-owned and state-controlled oil company in Venezuela. PDVSA was responsible for the exploration, production, refining, transportation, and trade in energy resources in Venezuela and provided funding for other operations of the Venezuelan government. Citgo Petroleum Corporation was a Houston-based subsidiary of PDVSA that acted primarily as a refiner, transporter, and marketer of petroleum-based products, but also procured goods and services on behalf of PDVSA through its Special Projects group.
Tulio Anibal Farias-Perez ("Farias") was a Venezuelan citizen and Texas resident. Farias was a partner with a fifty percent ownership stake in several closely held companies, in both the U.S. and Venezuela, that he controlled together with Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Testino ("Gonzalez"), and that they used to secure contracts with PDVSA. Testino was a defendant in a separate enforcement action.
According to the documents in this case, between 2011 and 2018, Farias and Gonzalez paid bribes to PDVSA officials in order to induce the PDVSA officials to use their authority to help Farias and Gonzalez' companies win PDVSA contracts to supply equipment and services. The bribes took many forms, including direct cash payments and wire transfers as well as recreational travel and hotel accommodations, Super Bowl and other sports tickets, meals, entertainment, original artwork, and luxury consumer goods like jewelry and watches.
On February 7, 2020, the DOJ filed a single count Information in the Southern District of Texas against Farias alleging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. The DOJ says that Farias pled guilty on February 19, 2020, but the details of the plea agreement are unknown because it remains under seal. On January 22, 2024, the court sentenced Farias to three years probation and ordered him to forfeit $1.5 million and to pay a mandatory assessment of $100.
In a related proceeding, on July 27, 2018, the DOJ filed a criminal complaint in the Southern District of Texas against Gonzalez alleging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA as well as direct violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. On May 14, 2019, the DOJ filed an information in the case, realleging the FCPA violations and adding an allegation of failure to file a foreign bank account report. On May 29, 2019, Gonzalez entered into a plea agreement with the DOJ, the details of which were never made public. Though Gonzalez was scheduled to be sentenced on March 24, 2023, news reports indicate the he committed suicide just before the sentencing date. Accordingly, on January 2, 2024, the DOJ moved to dismiss the case, which the court granted on January 3.
