Former Miami banker pleads guilty in $16 million international bribery scheme

MIAMI – A former Miami banker pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to participating in a $16 million international bribery and money laundering scheme, prosecutors said.

John Christopher Polit, 43, was accused of laundering bribe proceeds paid to his father, Ecuador’s former Comptroller General Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni.

Some of those proceeds went to “various investments in South Florida,” federal prosecutors said.

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“From approximately 2010 to 2015, Carlos Polit solicited and received bribes from Brazil-based construction company Odebrecht SA in exchange for using his official position to waive and not impose penalties to benefit Odebrecht and its business in Ecuador. ” prosecutors said in a press release. “In addition, in or about 2015, Carlos Polit accepted bribes from an Ecuadorian businessman in exchange for assistance to the businessman and his company in connection with certain contracts with Ecuador’s state-owned insurance company.”

Authorities say John Polit helped his father launder the money “by layering transactions through Panamanian accounts of brokerage companies and using Florida companies registered in the names of certain partners” and then used the funds to “purchase and renovate real estate in South Florida and elsewhere and use restaurants, dry cleaners and to acquire other businesses.”

John Polit, who pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, faces up to ten years behind bars. He will be sentenced on January 30.

Carlos Polit, 73, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in October following his conviction in April.

“Odebrecht SA pleaded guilty in December 2016 to conspiring to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with a broader scheme to pay approximately $800 million in bribes to public officials in 12 countries, including Ecuador.” prosecutors said.