Justice Department charges another arms executive in a foreign bribe probe

DOJ charges executive in foreign bribe probe

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has charged an executive of a body armor company in a foreign bribery investigation, the second time this week federal prosecutors have used a law prohibiting bribes to foreign officials to take legal action against people in that industry.

Richard Bistrong was accused of one count of conspiring to make payoffs to induce officials at the United Nations and foreign officials in the Netherlands and Nigeria to award contracts to Bistrong’s unidentified Jacksonville, Fla., company. Bistrong was vice president for international sales.

Bistrong is the former husband of long-time Washington political figure Nancy Soderberg, who served as the third-ranking official of the National Security Council at the Clinton White House. From 1997 to early 2001, Soderberg served as alternate representative to the United Nations, a presidentially appointed position. Bistrong’s allegedly illegal acts regarding the U.N. took place from late 2001 through 2006.

A plea hearing for Bistrong had been scheduled for Friday, but was abruptly canceled, a sign that plea negotiations between the government and Bistrong may have hit a snag. The government charged Bistrong in a court document known as an “information,” which ordinarily precedes a guilty plea and a defendant’s cooperation as a government witness.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced the arrests of 22 executives and employees at arms and body armor suppliers to the military and law enforcement agencies in an undercover FBI sting operation aimed at schemes to bribe a foreign official.

The arrests of the 22 people came on the eve of their industry’s annual trade show in Las Vegas, where 21 of the 22 arrests were made.

The case against Bistrong as with those arrested earlier this week was based on the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Justice Department is coming to rely on that law with greater frequency amid the evolution of the global economy.

In contrast to the arrests of the 22 people, Bistrong was allegedly involved in what the court papers in his case describe as actual payoffs.

According to the court papers, Bistrong caused his company to pay an agent of the U.N. more than $200,000 in commissions for U.N. contracts; caused his company to pay $15,000 to a Dutch agent after obtaining a pepper spray contract from the National Police Services Agency; and instructed a company agent to pay a kickback in exchange for the purchase of fingerprint ink pads by Nigeria’s Independent National Election Commission.

Bistrong’s unidentified company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, according to court papers.