2 Former Venezuelan Prosecutors Charged for Taking Over $1 Million in Bribes in FCPA Matter

Daniel D'Andrea Golindano and Luis Javier Sanchez Rangel, two former senior Venezuelan prosecutors, were charged with money laundering for accepting over $1 million in bribes in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matter, DOJ said March 8. Each is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. D'Andrea and Sanchez face up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to commit money laundering charge and up to 10 years in prison for each count of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property.

In 2017, D'Andrea and Sanchez were investigating an unnamed person for corruption over contracts the individual obtained with subsidiaries of PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company. The pair allegedly received bribes of over $1 million to not pursue criminal charges against the individual and others. D'Andrea allegedly then caused a co-conspirator to fabricate invoices seeking payment supposedly for medical diagnostic equipment from the individual. Instead, the person dropped over $1 million into an account in the Southern District of Florida as a bribe payment for D'Andrea and Sanchez, DOJ alleged.