Yaw Osei Amoako was the Regional Director for Africa at ITXC Corp. (“ITXC”) from 1999 until he was terminated for cause on August 19, 2004. His responsibilities included negotiating contracts between ITXC and telephone companies in Africa.
ITXC was an international telecommunications carrier based in Princeton, New Jersey. ITXC’s business consisted of selling the ability to place telephone calls to individuals in as many as 232 foreign countries. ITXC ceased to exist as a separate entity on June 1, 2004, when it merged with Teleglobe International Holdings Ltd. (“Teleglobe”). Prior to the merger with Teleglobe, ITXC’s common stock was registered with the Commission pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act and was traded on NASDAQ.
Amoako was part of a scheme to bribe foreign government officials in Nigeria (between November 2002 and May 2004), Rwanda (during September 2002), and Senegal (between August 2001 and October 2003). Amoako arranged for ITXC to make a series of wire transfers to senior officials at Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (“Nitel”), Rwandatel S.A. (“Rwandatel”) and La Société Nationale des Télécommunications du Sénégal (“Sonatel”), which are telephone companies owned by the governments of Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal, respectively. At Amoako’s direction, ITXC paid the Nitel employee $166,541.31, the Rwandatel employee $26,155.11, and the Sonatel employee $74,772.06. ITXC also attempted to enter into contracts with Ghana Telecom and La Societe des Telecommunications du Mali ("Sotelma"), telephone companies owned by the governments of Ghana and Mali, respectively, under much the same conditions as with Nitel, Rwandatel, and Sonatel. However, agreements could not be reached in either case.
On September 9, 2006, the DOJ filed a single count Information in the District of New Jersey against Amoako alleging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA and conspiracy to violate the travel act. On the same date, Amoako entered into a Plea Agreement with the DOJ. Under the terms of the agreement, Amoako agreed to plead guilty to the charge and agreed to the sentencing guidelines range. On August 1, 2007, the court sentenced Amoako to 18 months imprisonment, including 6 months in a halfway house, plus 2 years of supervised release. The court also ordered Amoako to pay a fine of $7500 plus a mandatory assessment of $100.
