The United States Department of Justice reported on December 22, 2023, that Francisco Roberto Cosenza Centeno, 65, a former Honduran government official, Carl Alan Zaglin, 68, the owner of a Georgia-based manufacturer of law enforcement uniforms and accessories and Aldo Nestor Marchena, 50, a former resident of Boca Raton, Florida, allegedly participated in an international scheme “to pay and conceal bribes to Honduran government officials to secure contracts to provide uniforms and other goods to the Honduran National Police.”
The Department of Justice explained that Cosenza Centeno “was the former Executive Director of the Comité Técnico del Fideicomiso para la Administración del Fondo de Protección y Seguridad Poblacional (TASA), a Honduran governmental entity that procured goods for the Honduran National Police.”
The Department of Justice added:
Between about March 2015 and continuing until about November 2019, Zaglin, Marchena, and others allegedly agreed to bribe Honduran government officials, including Cosenza, to secure contracts with TASA worth over $10 million.
In exchange for the bribes, Cosenza and other Honduran government officials allegedly assisted Zaglin, Marchena, and others in obtaining contracts for the sale of uniforms and other goods for the Honduran National Police and securing payment on the contracts.
The Department of Justice continued:
Zaglin, Marchena, and their co-conspirators allegedly used the proceeds from the corrupt Honduran government contracts to make bribe payments to Honduran government officials.
To promote the scheme and conceal the bribe payments, Zaglin, Marchena, Cosenza, and others allegedly laundered proceeds of the corrupt scheme through bank accounts and front companies in the United States and Belize.
As alleged in the indictment, the conspirators sent over $166,000 to bank accounts controlled by Cosenza and another Honduran foreign official in furtherance of the scheme.
The Department of Justice concluded:
The defendants are all charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Cosenza and Marchena are also each charged with one count of money laundering and one count of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property.
Zaglin and Marchena are also both charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Zaglin is also charged with one count of violating the FCPA.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each of the money laundering offenses, 10 years in prison on the count of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property, and five years in prison on each of the FCPA-related offenses.
(Source: United States Department of Justice)
