by WorldTribune Staff, January 22, 2018
The Department of Justice has indicted the former co-president of a Maryland-based company in a bribery scheme that may be tied to the Russia Uranium One deal facilitated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The 11-count indictment was issued against Mark Lambert, whose transportation company “provides services for the transportation of nuclear materials to customers in the United States and abroad,” the DOJ said in a statement.
The indictment alleges Lambert paid bribes to a Russian official so Lambert’s firm could win “highly sensitive nuclear fuel transportation contracts.”
Lambert was charged with one account of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud, seven counts of violating the FCPA, two counts of wire fraud and one count of international promotion money laundering.
“The charges stem from an alleged scheme to bribe Vadim Mikerin, a Russian official at JSC Techsnabexport (TENEX), a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation and the sole supplier and exporter of Russian Federation uranium and uranium enrichment services to nuclear power companies worldwide, in order to secure contracts with TENEX,” the DOJ said.
“According to the indictment, beginning at least as early as 2009 and continuing until October 2014, Lambert conspired with others at ‘Transportation Corporation A’ to make corrupt and fraudulent bribery and kickback payments to offshore bank accounts associated with shell companies, at the direction of, and for the benefit of, a Russian official, Vadim Mikerin, in order to secure improper business advantages and obtain and retain business with TENEX.”
The DOJ noted that, in June 2015, Lambert’s former co-president, Daren Condrey, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA and commit wire fraud, and Vadim Mikerin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering involving violations of the FCPA. Mikerin is currently serving a sentence of 48 months in prison and Condrey is awaiting sentencing.
The Hill noted in an Oct. 2017 report that “Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States.”
Federal agents, backed by documents, indicated Russian nuclear officials had “routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow,” sources told The Hill.
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