Former Translator in Iraq Pleads Guilty to Violating FCPA
A translator employed by the Titan Corporation in Iraq today pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by offering to bribe an Iraqi police official. The suspect was arrested at Dulles International Airport on Thursday upon returning from Iraq. During today's guilty plea hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the defendant admitted that in January 2006 he offered a senior Iraqi police official approximately $60,000 in exchange for the official's assistance with a sale of approximately 1,000 armored vests and a sophisticated map printer worth $1 million. The defendant requested the official use his position with the Iraqi police force to coordinate the sale of the materiel to the multinational Civilian Police Assistance Training Team (CPATT), an organization designed to train the Iraqi police and border guard in Iraq. The defendant also admitted that he later made final arrangements with an undercover agent of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction who was posing as a procurement officer for CPATT. The defendant admitted that during the subsequent discussions with the undercover agent he offered a separate $28,000 to $35,000 "gift" to the agent to process the contracts. The maximum sentence for a charge of violating the FCPA is five years in prison plus a $100,000 fine or twice the gross gain, whichever is greater.