U.S. indicts four Israelis in armaments bribery case

The United States Justice Department indicted 22 businessmen, including four Israelis, on Tuesday in an arms sting.

The businessmen are suspected of attempting to bribe a person they thought was the defense minister of an African country in order to secure a multimillion-dollar contract to supply his country with military equipment.

The U.S. Department of Justice identified the Israelis as Ofer Paz, 50 - the president and chief executive officer of the Israeli company Paz Logistics, which acts as a sales agent for companies in the law enforcement and military products industries; Haim Geri, 50 - the president of a North Miami Beach, Florida company that also serves as a sales agent for military and law enforcement industries; Yochanan R. Cohen, a.k.a. Yochi Cohen, 47 - the chief executive officer of a San Francisco company that manufactures security equipment, including body armor and ballistic plates; and Israel Wissler, former CEO of the company Ayit, which sold equipment to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Twenty-two people, including the Israelis, were arrested in Las Vegas on the eve of a major annual military equipment sales show, following a two-and-a-half-year FBI undercover operation. The BBC reported that five of the detained men are British, and said the FBI had named three of them: Pankesh Patel, David Painter and Lee Wares.

The defendants allegedly agreed to pay a 20% commission on a $16 million deal to the undercover FBI agent who posed as an African minister.

The indictments allege substantive violations of the corrupt practices act and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

No charges were filed against any of the companies employing the detained arms dealers.

The charges relating to the corrupt practices act carry a maximum five-year prison sentence on conviction. The maximum sentence for money laundering conspiracy is 20 years.

The case is the largest single investigation and prosecution of individuals in the history of the 1977 U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars bribery of foreign government officials. It is also the first large-scale use of an undercover operation in enforcing the corrupt practices act.