At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Paul Courtney Huck in the Southern District of Florida, Latinode pleaded guilty to one-count information charging a criminal violation of the FCPA's anti-bribery provisions. As part of the plea agreement, Latinode agreed to pay a $2 million fine during a three-year period to officials in Yemen in exchange for favorable interconnection rates.
Latin Node paid more than $2.2 million in bribes that company e-mails indicate were intended for, among others, the son of the Yemeni president and officials of the Yemeni Ministry of Telecommunications, court documents show.
Latin Node also made 17 payments totaling $1.15 million either directly to Yemeni officials or to consultants who would pass on payments to officials.
Following the purchase, ELandia discovered the doubtful payments during a review of internal controls in Latin Node's finance and accounting departments. The payments were made prior to the stock deal.
Latin Node entered a state-court version of bankruptcy in June, more than four months after ELandia decided to dispose of Latin Node's operations and search for a buyer for its assets. ELandia lost more than $14 million on Latin Node last year.
Meanwhile, ELandia sued Retail Americas VoIP and Principal Jorge Granados over the Latin Node stock purchase agreement, alleging they committed fraud by not disclosing that Latin Node made illegal payments to foreign officials.
In return, Yemen’s Ministry of Telecommunication has denied the authenticity of news reports that Yemeni officials have received bribes.
Informed sources from the Ministry of Telecommunications told news web site that such report by media outlets is groundless. "Latinode agreed to pay a $2 million fine during a three-year period to officials in Yemen in exchange for favorable interconnection rates," the source said, calling on all media outlets to be accurate and objective when reporting news.
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