Corruption is Everywhere > How to make $2.3m out of nothing

..

Former Bolivian minister sentenced to 70 months for laundering bribes

By Darryl Coote

U.S. NEWS 

JAN. 4, 2023 / 11:33 PM

   

Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic, 58, of Bolivia, was sentenced Wednesday to 70 months' imprisonment. Photo courtesy of Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional/Flikr

Jan. 4 (UPI) -- A U.S. federal judge has sentenced a former Bolivian minister to nearly six years in prison after he admitted to a charge of attempting to launder bribes he received for securing government contracts for a U.S. company.

Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic, 58, of Bolivia, was sentenced Wednesday to 70 months' imprisonment, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The businessman and hotelier, who served as Bolivia's minister of government from 2019 to 2020, had pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors said Murillo had received at least $532,000 in bribes for securing contracts worth some $5.6 million for a Florida-based company to provide the Bolivian defense ministry with tear gas and other non-lethal equipment in 2019.

The charge Murillo pleaded guilty to stemmed from his use of the U.S. financial system to launder the bribery funds, of which he received $130,000 in cash payments at a family member's Miami home.

Murillo, his chief of staff Sergio Rodrigo Mendez Mendizabal, 51, and three Americans -- Luis Berkman, 58, Bryan Berkman, 36, and Philip Lichtenfeld, 48 -- were arrested in May of 2021 in the United States in connection to the scheme.

Astonishing!

Prosecutors said Bryan Berkman, the owner of the Florida company, with his father, Luis Berkman, sought to win the contract from the Bolivian government concerning non-lethal equipment in November 2019.

That month, the younger Berkman sent Mendez a WhatApp message requesting a letter stating that their competitor for the contract had been "banned" from selling the Brazilian tear gas to Bolivia.

In December, Berkman's company then entered into a $5.6 million contract with the Bolivian Ministry of Defense to supply the non-lethal equipment. It then purchased the equipment from a Brazilian company for some $3.35 million for a profit of nearly $2.3 million.

So, Bolivian taxpayers had to come up with an extra 40% for nothing. I wonder why UPI is hiding the names of the companies involved?

The Berkmans, Mendez and Lichtenfeld all pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme and were sentenced in June.

Mendez was sentenced to 42 months in prison while Luis Berkman received 38 months. Bryan Berkman was sentenced to 28 months and Lichtenfeld was sentenced to 26. 

These men should never be allowed to operate any type of business again. They are obviously devoid of a moral compass.