On February 12, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had indicted five former employees of Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) – Venezuela’s state oil company – for money laundering and conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The indictment alleges that the five defendants solicited bribes in exchange for obtaining contracts with an agent of the state company and then laundered the funds as part of an international network in several countries, including Switzerland.
Four of them were arrested in Spain in October 2017 by Spanish authorities on arrest warrants issued by US authorities. One of the defendants was extradited to the United States while 3 others remain in Spanish custody pending extradition. A fifth defendant remains at large.