Conspirators Paid Over $1.3 Million to Influence the
Official and to Secure Business with State-Owned Telecommunications Company
An Aruban official residing in Florida was sentenced to 36
months in prison today for money laundering charges in connection with his role
in a scheme to arrange and receive corrupt payments to influence the awarding
of contracts with an Aruban state-owned telecommunications corporation.
Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg of
the Southern District of Florida and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Paul
Keenan of the FBI’s Miami, Florida Field Office made the announcement.
Egbert Yvan Ferdinand Koolman, 49, a Dutch citizen residing
in Miami, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno of the
Southern District of Florida, who also ordered Koolman to serve three years of
supervised release following his prison sentence and to pay over $1.3 million
in restitution. Koolman was an official
of Servicio di Telecommunicacion di Aruba N.V. (Setar), an instrumentality of
the Aruban government. He pleaded guilty
on April 13, before Judge Moreno to one count of conspiracy to commit money
laundering.
According to admissions made as part of his plea agreement,
between 2005 and 2016, Koolman operated a money laundering conspiracy from his
position as Setar’s product manager.
Koolman admitted that, as part of the scheme, he conspired with Parker and
others to transmit funds from Florida and elsewhere in the United States to
Aruba and Panama with the intent to promote a wire fraud scheme and a corrupt
scheme that violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Koolman was promised and received bribes from
individuals and companies located in the United States and abroad in exchange
for using his position at Setar to award lucrative mobile phone and accessory
contracts. He received the corrupt
payments via wire transfer from banks located in the United States, in cash
during meetings in Miami and in Aruba, and by withdrawing cash in Aruba using a
bank card that drew money from a U.S.-based bank account. In exchange for the more than $1.3 million in
corrupt payments that he received, Koolman also admittedly provided favored
vendors with Setar’s confidential information.
In connection with the scheme, Lawrence W. Parker, Jr., 42,
of Miami, pleaded guilty on Dec. 28, 2017 before U.S. District Judge Cecilia M.
Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy to
violate the FCPA and to commit wire fraud.
He was sentenced on April 30, to serve 35 months in prison and was
ordered to pay $701,750 in restitution.
The FBI’s International Corruption Unit in Miami is
investigating the case. Trial Attorneys
Jonathan Robell and Vanessa Snyder of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lois Foster-Steers of the Southern District of Florida
are prosecuting the case. The Criminal
Division’s Office of International Affairs, as well as law enforcement
colleagues in Aruba and Panama, provided significant assistance in this matter.
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