August 21, 2024
A former Vitol oil trader on Wednesday admitted in New York federal court to charges brought in Texas accusing him of bribing Mexican officials to obtain business for the energy and commodities company, months after he was convicted in New York over similar conduct with Ecuadorian officials.
July 29, 2024
A New York federal judge refused Friday to acquit former Vitol Oil Group trader Javier Aguilar or grant him a new trial following his February conviction on charges that he bribed Ecuadorian and Mexican officials to win $500 million in business deals for the global energy and commodities company.
February 23, 2024
Former Vitol Oil Group trader Javier Aguilar was convicted Friday of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering violations, after nearly two months of trial over claims that he bribed officials in Ecuador and Mexico in order to win $500 million in business deals for the global energy and commodities company.
February 22, 2024
Counsel for a former Vitol Group executive told a New York federal jury in closing arguments Thursday that his client wasn't aware of bribes being paid to officials in Ecuador and Mexico in order to obtain $500 million in state contracts, while a prosecutor insisted that the former oil trader was the linchpin to the corruption scheme.
February 06, 2024
A former executive of a unit of Mexico's state-owned oil and gas company on Tuesday told a Brooklyn federal jury of how he and a colleague agreed to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Vitol Group, in exchange for confidential information to help the Geneva-based energy-trading giant win a $200 million gas contract.
February 05, 2024
A former Texas oil trader accused of bribery by federal prosecutors in New York has asked a judge to reject the government's argument that employees of a U.S.-based affiliate of Mexico's state-owned oil company should be considered "public servants" under Mexico's anti-bribery law.
January 08, 2024
A former Petroecuador official on Monday told a New York federal jury how he and others successfully backed a $300 million fuel deal with an Omani energy fund acting as a front for Vitol Group, which paid out bribes to the conspirators for facilitating the lucrative transaction.
January 05, 2024
Counsel for a former Vitol oil trader accused of funneling bribes to Mexican and Ecuadorian officials to secure over $500 million in state contracts on Friday told a New York federal jury that he was just following orders in what he believed to be legitimate business dealings, as the latest Foreign Corrupt Practices Act trial got underway.
November 29, 2023
A Houston trader awaiting trial for allegedly arranging a $300 million Ecuador bribe-for-fuel caper has turned down overtures from prosecutors to resolve the charges alongside a second foreign bribery case pending against him in Texas, a Brooklyn federal judge heard Wednesday.
August 22, 2023
New York federal prosecutors have pushed back on a former Vitol Group oil trader's request to escape money laundering conspiracy charges as part of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case over an alleged scheme to bribe Mexican and Ecuadorian officials, saying the motion was filed too late and the defendant is simply "repackaging" arguments that have already been rejected.