Situation
A former Gunvor S.A. employee in business development was charged in the Eastern District of New York with conspiracy to launder proceeds of an approximately $22 million bribery scheme connected to PetroEcuador, Ecuador's state-owned oil company. Gunvor itself later admitted, in its own March 2024 guilty plea, that between 2012 and 2020 the company paid intermediaries more than $97 million, knowing a portion would fund bribes to PetroEcuador officials in exchange for help securing and retaining lucrative oil-trading business.
Approach
Adam Fels led the defense, with Anel Viamontes on the team, in a matter running alongside a parallel, high-profile corporate FCPA investigation of Gunvor that drew coverage from Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and the international press.
Result
Gunvor S.A. separately pleaded guilty in March 2024 to conspiracy to violate the FCPA's anti-bribery provisions, paying a $374.56 million criminal fine as part of a $474.4 million global resolution — one of the larger FCPA enforcement actions on record. (Source: DOJ Statement of Facts, Eastern District of New York; FCPA Professor.)
The client's own representation and its outcome remain confidential.