Richard G. Pitchford was a Central Asia American Enterprise Fund ("CAAEF") Vice President and Country Manager in Turkmenistan. Part of Richard G. Pitchford's responsibilities was to identify business ventures for investment by the CAAEF and to make recommendations to the CAAEF Board of Directors. The CAAEF was incorporated in 1994 under the laws of Delaware, and was wholly funded by an appropriation of $150 million from the Congress of the United States pursuant to the Support for Eastern European Democracy Act of 1989 (the "SEED Act") and the Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Market Support Act of 1992 ("FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT"). It was part of the CAAEF's mandate to support the development of the private sector in Central Asia and to promote the benefits of private enterprise and capitalization.
From December 1996 through December 1998, Richard G. Pitchford was involved in several schemes to unjustly enrich himself and others by stealing, embezzling, and obtaining covert and illicit kickbacks from contracts in which the CAAEF entered.
Around September 1997, in connection with a CAAEF project to establish and equip an edible oil manufacturing facility in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan, Pitchford and a Foreign Government Official, whose duties included identifying foreign business opportunities for British companies and assisting these companies in obtaining contracts, entered into an agreement by which the official would cause a British company to bid on the CAAEF Turkmenistan project at a price inflated by approximately 15 percent, or $200,000. Pitchford would then ensure that CAAEF awarded the contract to the British Company. Pitchford obtained confidential information from the bids of the British Company's competitors for the CAAEF Turkmenistan project and delivered the information to the British Company through the Foreign Government official. The British Company used the confidential information to tailor its bid to include the extra $200,000, but still remain under the bids of its competitors. Around January 22, 1998, the British Company wire transferred the $200,000 to an account in Winterthur, Switzerland for the benefit of Pitchford and the Foreign Government Official.
On September 3, 2002, the DOJ filed a three count Information against Richard G. Pitchford, charging him with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions and violating the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. Richard G. Pitchford was also charged with conspiracy to commit theft from a federal program, and theft from a federal program.
On September 13, 2002, Richard G. Pitchford pleaded guilty to the three count information and was ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution to the U.S. government. Pitchford agreed not to contest the administrative forfeiture of funds from two bank accounts, which totalled $142,797, and a yacht (in which Pitchford disclaimed ever having any interest). The cash obtained from the accounts along with the proceeds from the sale of the yacht will be applied toward the restitution to the U.S. government. On November 22, 2002, Pitchford was sentenced to 12 months and one day of prision, followed by three years of supervised release. Richard G. Pitchford will also serve 200 hours of community service.
