Where Are They Now? An Update on Past Posts

July 25, 2014

By: Sara Kropf

Every few weeks, I review the press releases for the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country. In the blur of stories about drug busts and indictments for low-level health care fraud, sometimes a name sounds familiar.

No, not because it’s a friend. Or a relative. It’s because I’ve written about the person before.

Somewhere around 95% of all criminal cases end in a guilty plea. These cases are no exception. Of course, the government doesn’t issue press releases when it loses a case or when the result is a plea to a minor misdemeanor, so this isn’t a completely representative view of the outcome of all prosecutions.

Here are a few updates on popular past posts.

French Power Company Exec Pleads Guilty to FCPA Violations. Last May (in the third post ever on this blog), I wrote about William Pomponi.

Mr. Pomponi is the former vice president of sales at the French energy company Alstom Power Inc. Alstom has recently had its share of problems, confirming that it is being investigated for FCPA issues this past March and, just this month, facing bribery charges by the British Serious Fraud Office.

Mr. Pomponi is the fourth defendant to plead guilty to a scheme to bribe Indonesian officials as part of a power project there. A Japanese company pleaded guilty as well as several Alstom executives. Mr. Pomponi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. Sentencing is set for October 22, 2014.

Qualcomm EVP Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading. This past May, I wrote about an insider trading case involving three Qualcomm executives. They allegedly shared information about Qualcomm’s acquisition of Atheros Communication, Inc.

A fourth executive recently pleaded guilty to insider trading. Jing Wang pleaded guilty in the Southern District of California to insider trading and money laundering. He is Qualcomm’s former Executive Vice President and President of Global Business Operations.

He allegedly roped his brother and accountant into the scheme. His brother is now in China, facing an international arrest warrant; his accountant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and to obstruct justice.

Defendants Sentenced in Largest DBE Fraud (Ever). This past February, I wrote about Romeo Cruz, who had been indicted as part of what the government alleged to be the largest-ever Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) fraud. The government claims that it was a $136 million fraud that lasted 15 years.

Mr. Cruz’s company was a DBE, but he worked with a company called Schuylkill Products, Inc. (SPI). According to the government, non-DBE SPI did all the work but used Mr. Cruz’s DBE entity as a “front” to obtain government contracts.

  • Mr. Cruz was sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $119 million.
  • The CEO of SPI, Ernest Fink, pleaded guilty to his participation and was sentenced to 51 months in prison.
  • SPI’s former vice president of sales, Dennis Campbell, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and $119 million, after pleading guilty to conspiracy.
  • SPI’s former president, Joseph Nagle, was convicted after a jury trial on 26 counts in his indictment. He was sentenced to 84 months in prison. He has appealed his case to the Third Circuit.

I wish I had good news to report. Feel free to email me with any positive outcomes of white collar cases against executives, and I’ll report them as well.

Published by Kropf Moseley

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