Italian executive for California valve company extradited to US to face conspiracy charges

Italian executive extradited to US in bribery case

LOS ANGELES — An Italian citizen who ran a California company has been extradited to the U.S. from Germany to face charges in an alleged bribery conspiracy.

Control Components Inc. Vice President Flavio Ricotti, was arrested in February and arrived in the U.S. on Friday. CCI is based in Rancho Santa Margarita and makes valves for the energy industry.

Ricotti is charged with telling CCI employees to give about $750,000 in payoffs to officials in the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, India and Qatar in exchange for contracts.

The company was ordered to pay $18 million in fines for making hundreds of corrupt payments in dozens of countries, resulting in $46 million in profits.

Ricotti faces 25 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines if convicted. Trial is scheduled to begin in November.