Petroleos Mexicanos ("Pemex") was a national oil company wholly owned by the government of the Republic of Mexico, and was an instrumentality of the Mexican government.
Crawford Enterprises, Inc. ("CEI") was a corporation organized under the laws of Texas with its principal offices in Houston, Texas. CEI was in the business of selling compression equipment systems to Pemex for use in the exploration, production and transmission of Mexican oil and natural gas.
Ruston Gas Turbines, Inc. ("Ruston") was a Texas corporation with principal offices in Houston, Texas, and was engaged in, among other things, the manufacture and sale of turbine compression equipment for use in the petroleum industry.
C.E. Miller Corporation ("Cemco") was a California corporation with principal offices in Irvine, California, and was engaged in, among other things, the engineering and fabrication of turbine compression systems for use in the petroleum industry.
International Harvester Company, and its division Solar Turbines International (collectively, "Solar") was engaged in, among other things, the manufacture and sale of turbine compression equipment.
According to the allegations in the charging documents, in order to obtain purchase orders for turbine compression systems and related equipment, CEI, along with Cemco, Solar and Ruston, engaged in a conspiracy to pay Pemex officials bribes equal to approximately 4.5% to 5% of each Pemex purchase order for compression equipment systems in which CEI participated. CEI arranged to have Grupo Industrial Delta, S.A., a Mexican company, hold itself out as the Mexican agent of CEI, while in truth acting primarily as the conduit for the bribe payments to the Pemex officials. Grupo Delta disguised the bribe payments as commissions due by providing CEI with false invoices for each payment received. In order to create a pool of money with which to pay the bribes, CEI, along with Cemco, Solar and Ruston, submitted to Pemex bids which were inflated to include a 4.5% to 5% markup for the Pemex officials.
From 1977 until 1980, CEI, along with Cemco, Solar and Ruston, received purchase orders from Pemex for compression equipment systems in the total approximate amount of $225,429,592.80, and transmitted approximately $9,960,432.40 in bribe money to Grupo Delta for payment to Pemex officials.
On October 22, 1982, the DOJ filed an indictment against CEI, Donald G. Crawford (president of CEI), William E. Hall (vice president of CEI), Ricardo Garcia Beltran (president of Grupo Delta), Mario Sergio Gonzalez (assisted Grupo Delta), Andres I. Garcia (assisted Grupo Delta), George S. McLean (vice president of Solar), Luis A. Uriarte (Latin American regional manager of Solar), Al Lee Eyster (president of Ruston), and James R. Smith (vice president of Ruston, charging each of them with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. CEI, Donald G. Crawford, William E. Hall, Mario Sergio Gonzalez, Ricardo Garcia Beltran, Andres I. Garcia, Al Lee Eyster, and James R. Smith were also charged with violating the anti-bribery provisions, and aiding and abetting violations of the anti-bribery provisions of th FCPA. CEI, Donald G. Crawford, and William E. Hall were also charged with obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting the obstruction of justice.
CEI pleaded nolo contendere, was found guilty and was ordered to pay a $3,460,000 fine. Donald G. Crawford pleaded nolo contendere, was found guilty and was ordered to pay a $309,999 fine. William E. Hall pleaded nolo contendere, was found guilty and was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine. Andres I. Garcia pleaded nolo contendere, was found guilty and was ordered to pay a $75,000 fine. McLean and Uriarte filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, and on June 24, 1983, Judge George Cire granted the motion to dismiss the substantive FCPA charges against them, but not the conspiracy charge. At trial, Mclean brought up the Eckhardt Amendment, which stated that an employee can't be charged with a criminal violation of the FCPA if his or her company isn't convicted of an FCPA offense. Solar (McLean and Uriarte's company) was not convicted of a substantive FCPA violation. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit dismissed the conspiracy count against McLean. Luis A. Uriarte was charged in a one-count superseding Information, and on November 30, 1983, plead guilty. Luis A. Uriarte was placed on unsupervised probation for one year, and unrestricted travel. Al Lee Eyster and James R. Smith pleaded nolo contendere, were found guilty, and were each ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
Ricardo Garcia Beltran and Mario Sergio Gonzalez appear to remain fugitives.
