One of the 22 shot-show defendants is expected to plead guilty soon to charges of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by plotting to bribe defense officials in Africa and the Republic of Georgia.
Prosecutors on Friday filed a two-count superseding information against Daniel Alvirez, the former president of Arkansas-based ALS Technologies Inc. It manufacturers ammunition and other military equipment.
Washington, D.C. lawyer Michael Volkov said his client Alvirez will plead guilty soon. “I can confirm that,” he told Reuters.
The superseding information alleges that Alvirez, 32, conspired with Lee Allen Tolleson and others to bribe Georgian defense officials to win contracts to sell ammunition and rations. Tolleson, 25, was the director of acquisitions and logistics at ALS Technologies.
Alvirez and the other shot-show defendants were originally charged with conspiracy to violate the FCPA, conspiracy to engage in money laundering, and committing substantive FCPA violations. The 16 indictments covering the 22 defendants alleged that they plotted with an undercover FBI agent to bribe the minister of defense of an African country. The superseding information also alleges that Alvirez and others plotted to bribe Georgian officials through an Israeli sales agent.
One of the shot-show defendants is Ofer Paz, 50, the president and chief executive officer of Paz Logistics, an Israeli company that acts as sales agent for companies in the law enforcement and military products industries
Alvirez may face up to five years in prison for each of the two conspiracy counts. He could have faced up to 20 years in jail on the money-laundering charge that was dropped in the superseding information, and five years in prison for each substantive FCPA offense he originally faced.
As we’ve said, when the government indicts en masse as in this case, defendants who offer early cooperation usually make out best. They often receive lighter sentences, depending in part on their level of cooperation with prosecutors. See our post here.
Download a copy of the March 5, 2010 superseding information in U.S. v. Daniel Alvirez here.
The original 16 indictments in the case can be downloaded from our post here.
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