By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – A Connecticut oil and gas trader was convicted on Thursday of a nearly eight-year scheme to bribe officials at Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras so two Connecticut trading companies could win business, U.S. prosecutors said.
Glenn Oztemel, 65, of Westport, Connecticut, was found guilty by a jury in Bridgeport, Connecticut, of all seven charges he faced, including money laundering, conspiracy and violating the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Oztemel and another defendant, Brazilian-Italian oil and gas broker Eduardo Innecco, were accused of bribing officials to help Arcadia Fuels and Freepoint Commodities win contracts and learn confidential details about Petrobras’ fuel oil business.
Prosecutors said Oztemel paid more than $1 million in bribes, split between Petrobras officials in Brazil and Rodrigo Berkowitz, a Petrobras fuel trader in Houston.
The defendants allegedly used coded language such as “breakfast,” “breakfast portions,” and “freight deviation” to refer to kickbacks and kickbacks.
Prosecutors said the scheme ran from 2010 to 2018. Oztemel worked at both Arcadia and Freepoint before retiring in 2020.
“We are very disappointed in today’s verdict,” Oztemel’s attorney Nelson Boxer said in an email. “Glenn has an impeccable track record in the oil industry for four decades, and we will continue to fight to clear Glenn’s good name.”
Innecco is awaiting extradition from France and will be charged by the US. Oztemel’s brother Gary Oztemel pleaded guilty in June to a money laundering charge.
Last December, Freepoint, based in Stamford, Connecticut, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay more than $98 million to resolve related U.S. bribery charges.
Brazilian authorities had investigated Freepoint employees as part of Operation Car Wash, a seven-year investigation into suspected bribery involving Petrobras.
Berkowitz pleaded guilty in Brooklyn in February 2019 to a charge of money laundering. Court records show he has not yet been convicted.
