A report this week from Nigeria said FCPA fugitive James “Ken” Tillery has been seized by the FBI in Lagos and is being held by American authorities. But another report on Wednesday said the Nigerian high court had halted the extradition at least until the end of the month because due process wasn’t followed.
Tillery, 51, was the managing director of Willbros in Nigeria. He was indicted in 2008 along with Willbros’ consultant Paul G. Novak. They were charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA in connection with the authorization of specific corrupt payments to officials in Nigeria and Ecuador, and one count of conspiring to launder the bribe payments through companies controlled by Novak.
Novak, 43, pleaded guilty in November 2009 to paying $6 million in bribes to officials who worked in the Nigerian government, in government-owned companies, and in a political party there. He hasn’t been sentenced.
Tillery has been at large since his indictment. If convicted of all charges, he faces up to 35 years in prison.
One report from Nigeria said the next hearing on Tillery’s extradition will be on August 30.
In May 2008, Willbros Group Inc. and Willbros International Inc. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $22 million criminal penalty for the illegal payments to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador.
In January this year, two former Willbros executives were jailed for bribery. Jim Bob Brown, 48, was sentenced in federal court in Houston to one year and one day in prison and fined $17,500; Jason Edward Steph, 40, was sentenced to 15 months and fined $2,000. Brown had pleaded guilty in 2006 and Steph in 2007.
An African press report said Tillery is “an American by birth, who had since naturalized as a Nigerian.” It said normal extradition procedures weren’t followed and characterized Tillery’s arrest as an “extraction” and a “forceful extradition.”
The U.S. Justice Department hasn’t publicly commented.
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