Former Venezuelan official pleads guilty in Houston to conspiracy charges in connection with bribery scheme

HOUSTON — An executive with dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizenship pleaded guilty Monday for his role in a scheme to bribe officials of Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).

This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Houston, Texas, with assistance from HSI Boston, HSI Madrid and the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Luis Carlos De Leon-Perez (De Leon), 42, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced for both charges Sept. 24.

De Leon was arrested in Spain in October 2017 and subsequently extradited to the U.S. after a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas returned a 20-count indictment against him.

Between 2011 and 2013, he conspired with PDVSA and other Venezuelan government officials, to solicit kickbacks from PDVSA vendors in exchange for helping them secure PDVSA contracts.

De Leon further admitted that he conspired to launder the proceeds of the bribery scheme through a series of financial transactions, including wire transfers to accounts in Switzerland.

De Leon is the latest individual to plead guilty under the ongoing investigation into bribery at PDVSA. Including De Leon, 12 individuals have been convicted in connection with this investigation.