Nov. 13 (UPI) — The son of a high-ranking ex-financial official in Ecuador who was a Florida banker pleaded guilty for his role in an international, multimillion-dollar bribery and money laundering scheme that involved his father.
Former Miami banker John Christopher Polit, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for his part in bribery and laundering acts worth roughly $16 million on behalf of his father, ex-Ecuadorian Comptroller General Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni.
They carried out the money laundering via the U.S. financial system in south Florida, where the proceeds were littered into various investment accounts, according to a news release Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Polit has a Jan. 30 sentencing date. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison by a federal judge.
His father Carlos Polit, who served in a high-ranking government position as as comptroller general of Ecuador, was convicted in April and then sentenced to 10 years in prison for his own role.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations’ Miami field office and prosecuted by the Southern District of Florida. The U.S. Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided “substantial” assistance in the effort with aid from the FBI, officials said.
The U.S. government contends that from roughly 2010 to 2015, Carlos Polit had allegedly solicited and then received supposed bribe payments from Brazil-based construction conglomerate Odebrecht S.A. in exchange for Polit abusing his government post to either remove or not impose fines in order to benefit Odebrecht and its business in South America.
In December 2016, Odebrecht company officials had pleaded guilty for conspiring to violate the anti-bribery provisions of 1977’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a much broader illicit scheme to pay-off nearly $800 million to public officials in bribes in 12 countries, including Ecuador, where Carlos Polit sat at the intersection of a wide array of financial decisions as comptroller.
It’s further alleged that Ecuador’s former comptroller general supposedly received another bribe from an Ecuadorian businessman around 2015 in exchange for “assisting the businessman and his company in connection with certain contracts from the state-owned insurance company of Ecuador,” according to the Justice Department.
Meanwhile, John Polit had allegedly aided his father launder the proceeds
It’s said between approximately 2010 and 2018 he made the fraudulent proceeds “disappear” by layering financial transactions through a multitude of Panamanian accounts and intermediary companies in Florida registered in the names of alleged associates.
The department claimed John Polit then used laundered funds from his father’s bribery scheme to purchase and renovate South Florida real estate and other locations, in addition to the purchase of a dry cleaner, restaurants and more businesses.