A New Jersey-based real estate broker pleaded guilty today
to foreign bribery charges in connection with his role in a scheme to bribe a
foreign official in the Middle East to secure a real estate deal for a South
Korean construction company, Keangnam Enterprises Co. Ltd. (Keangnam).
Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman of the
Southern District of New York and Assistant Director in Charge William F.
Sweeney Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office made the announcement.
Joo Hyun Bahn, aka Dennis Bahn, 39, of Tenafly, New Jersey,
pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to one count of conspiracy to
violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one count of violating the
FCPA. U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos
of the Southern District of New York accepted the guilty plea. Sentencing is scheduled for June 29 at 11 am.
Bahn was charged alongside his father, Ban Ki Sang (Ban),
and Malcolm Harris in December 2016. Ban
was a senior executive at Keangnam.
Harris, an arts and fashion consultant and blogger, held himself out as
an agent of a foreign official.
“Bribery and corruption undermine fair competition and the
rule of law,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. “The fact that Joo Hyun Bahn’s intended
scheme was thwarted by the greed and deception of one of his codefendants does
not change the fact that he sought to steer an $800 million real estate deal by
paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. The Department is committed to prosecuting
those like Bahn who seek to corruptly tilt the playing field to their
advantage.”
“As he has now admitted, Joo Hyun Bahn schemed to bribe a
foreign official to close an $800 million real estate deal for a skyscraper in
Vietnam -- a deal that would have earned him a multimillion-dollar commission
and much needed capital for his client, Keangnam Enterprises,” said Manhattan
U.S. Attorney Berman. “As Bahn’s
conviction demonstrates, federal law enforcement stands ready to root out
commercial bribery wherever it is found.”
According to admissions made in connection with Bahn’s plea,
from between February 2014 and May 2015, Bahn joined a scheme to pay bribes to
a foreign official in a country in the Middle East in order to facilitate the
sale by Keangnam of a commercial building known as Landmark 72 in Hanoi,
Vietnam, to the Middle Eastern country’s sovereign wealth fund. In particular, Bahn, Ban and others agreed to
pay $500,000 upfront to the foreign official, who he believed made decisions
about the acquisition of assets for the Middle Eastern country’s sovereign
wealth fund, in order to corruptly influence him to cause the sovereign wealth
fund to purchase Landmark 72. In furtherance of the scheme, Bahn and Ban
transferred $500,000 to Harris for him to pass on to the foreign official. In related proceedings, codefendant Harris
admitted that he double-crossed his codefendants, and simply stole the $500,000
bribe.
Harris pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme on June 21,
2017, and was sentenced to 42 months in prison.
Ban is still awaiting trial. All
defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted beyond a reasonable doubt in
a court of law.
The FBI’s International Corruption Squad in New York City
investigated the case. In 2015, the FBI
formed International Corruption Squads across the country to address national
and international implications of foreign corruption. Trial Attorney Dennis R. Kihm of the Criminal
Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. Noble of the
Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case. The Criminal Division’s Office of
International Affairs also provided substantial assistance in this matter.
The Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and
prosecuting all FCPA matters. Additional
information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be
found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/foreign-corrupt-practices-act.
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