2 Charged With Defrauding Mexican Utility
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Mexican couple have been charged in Los Angeles with paying and laundering bribes to officials at a state-owned utility in Mexico and using the money to buy a yacht and a Ferrari.
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that 56-year-old Enrique Faustino Aguilar Noriega of Cuernavaca, Mexico, faces seven counts including conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering. Angela Maria Gomez Aguilar, 55, is charged with conspiracy and money laundering.
The couple worked for a company hired by an Azusa-based firm to obtain contracts for it from a Mexican electrical utility.
Prosecutors say they overcharged the utility by creating fraudulent invoices and used the money to pay off officials for more contracts and to enrich themselves.
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