Connecticut investor sentenced in Azeri bribery scheme

Nov. 17, 2009
A federal district judge in New York sentenced Frederic A. Bourke Jr. of Greenwich, Conn., to 1 year and 1 day in prison for his role in a bribery scheme involving Azerbaijan’s national oil company, the US Department of Justice announced.

Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, Nov. 17 -- A federal district judge in New York sentenced Frederic A. Bourke Jr. of Greenwich, Conn., to 1 year and 1 day in prison for his role in a bribery scheme involving Azerbaijan’s national oil company, the US Department of Justice announced.

US District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin also ordered Bourke to pay a $1 million fine and serve 3 years of supervised release following the prison term, DOJ said. Bourke was found guilty July 11, following a 6-week trial, of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related prohibitions, and of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

DOJ’s criminal division said evidence indicated Bourke participated in a scheme to bribe senior Azerbaijan officials with several hundred million dollars in shares of stock, cash, and other gifts.

It said the payments were supposed to ensure the officials would privatize the State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic in a rigged auction that only Bourke, fugitive Czech investor Viktor Kozeny, and members of their investment consortium could win, to their massive profit in 1997 and 1998.

Kozeny remains under federal indictment in New York’s Southern District for his alleged role in the scheme, DOJ said.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].