AIRCRAFT ENGINE MAINTENANCE CO. TO PAY $14 MILLION FOR PAYING BRIBES TO FOREIGN OFFICIALS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Dallas Airmotive Inc. Admits Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations and Agrees to Pay $14 Million Criminal Penalty

Dallas Airmotive Inc., a provider of aircraft engine maintenance, repair and overhaul services based in Grapevine, Texas, has admitted to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and agreed to pay a $14 million criminal penalty to resolve charges that it bribed Latin American government officials in order to secure lucrative government contracts.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Diego Rodriguez of the FBI’s Dallas Division made the announcement.

A criminal information, filed today in federal court in the Northern District of Texas as part of the deferred prosecution agreement, charges Dallas Airmotive with one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA and one count of violating the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.

According to Dallas Airmotive’s detailed admissions in the statement of facts accompanying the deferred prosecution agreement, between 2008 and 2012, the company bribed officials of the Brazilian Air Force, the Peruvian Air Force, the Office of the Governor of the Brazilian State of Roraima, and the Office of the Governor of the San Juan Province in Argentina.  Dallas Airmotive used various methods to convey the bribe payments, including by entering into agreements with front companies affiliated with foreign officials, making payments to third-party representatives with the understanding that funds would be directed to foreign officials, and directly providing things of value, such as paid vacations, to foreign officials.

This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Dallas Field Office and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney David M. Fuhr of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Elliott from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas has provided assistance in the case.  The department acknowledges the assistance of law enforcement counterparts in Brazil.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant assistance.