Criminal Law

Export Firm Owner Admits Bribing Vietnam Officials for Contracts

CATHERINE TOMASKO, ESQ., Andrews Publications Staff Writer
Government Contract Litigation Reporter

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The owner of an export company and two of his employees have pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania federal court to charges that they paid $150,000 in bribes to Vietnamese government representatives so their firm could win equipment and technology supply contracts.

United States v. Nguyen et al., No. 08-CR-522, guilty pleas entered (E.D. Pa. Mar. 16, 2010).

Nam Nguyen, owner of Nexus Technologies, and relatives Kim Nguyen and An Nguyen entered the pleas before Judge Timothy Savage of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The Justice Department said the defendants violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1, which bars companies from giving anything of value to foreign government officials to obtain business.

A guilty plea also was entered on behalf of Nexus, the agency said.

A Sept. 4, 2008, indictment alleges the defendants and another Nexus employee, Joseph Lukas, paid a total of $150,000 to unidentified Vietnamese government officials.

The defendants allegedly made the payments between 1999 and 2008 to secure lucrative contracts for Nexus, which has offices in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Vietnam.

The Justice Department said the contracts involved the supply of underwater mapping devices, bomb containment equipment, helicopter parts, chemical detectors, satellite communication parts and air tracking systems to Vietnamese government agencies, including the Ministries of Transport, Industry and Public Safety.

Nam Nguyen negotiated illegal payments and contracts with various Vietnamese government agencies, Lukas bought the supply equipment from U.S. companies, and Kim and An Nguyen made the bribery payments, prosecutors said.

The Nguyens face significant prison sentences and fines at their July 13 sentencing. Nexus faces a fine of up to $27 million.

Lukas pleaded guilty to FCPA violations in the District Court June 29, 2009, and faces a significant prison sentence and fine. He will be sentenced July 13.

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