Denis J. McInerney, Chief, Fraud Section, Criminal Division
Jeffrey H. Knox, Senior Litigation Counsel, Fraud Section, Criminal Division
James M. Koukios, Senior Trial Attorney, Fraud Section, Criminal Division
US Assisting Agencies: Unknown
Foreign Enforcement Action/Investigation: Unknown
Foreign Assisting Agencies: Unknown
Origin of the Proceeding:
Voluntary disclosure
Whistleblower:
Unknown
Case Status:
Resolved
Summary
From November 2000 to 2007, Juan Pablo Vasquez was the senior commercial executive, Vice President of Sales, Vice President Wholesale Division, and Chief Commercial Officer ("CCO") of Latin Node, Inc. ("Latinode"). Latinode, which was headquartered in Miami, Florida, provided wholesale telecommunications services using internet protocol technology in a number of countries throughout the world. In June 2007, eLandia International, Inc. ("eLandia") acquired Latinode, and subsequently discovered potentially corrupt payments to government officials. Counsel for eLandia and Latinode, Holland & Knight LLP ("Holland & Knight"), voluntarily disclosed the improper payments to the government.
From November 2003 to December 2005, Latinode sought a Honduran Officials assistance in winning an interconnection agreement with Hondutel, which would permit Latinode to use Hondutel's telecommunications lines. Juan Pablo Vasquez conspired with Jorge Granados (CEO of Latinode) and Manuel Caceres (senior executive of LatiNode) to pay over $500,000 to third parties, knowing that some or all of those funds would be passed on as bribes to officials of Hondutel, the Honduran state owned telecommunications company. The payments were made in exchange for obtaining an interconnection agreement with Hondutel, as well as for reducing the rate per minute under the interconnection agreement.
On December 17, 2010, the DOJ filed an Information against Juan Pablo Vasquez, charging him with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. On January 21, 2011, Juan Pablo Vasquez pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 3 years of probation, 500 hours of community service, and home detention with electronic monitoring for 6 months. The court further sentenced Vasquez to a fine of $7,500 plus a mandatory assessment on $100.
Protected Content
Please Log In or Sign Up for a free account to access restricted features of the Clearinghouse website, including the Advanced Search form and the full case pages.
When you sign up, you will have the option to save your search queries performed on the Advanced Search form.
