Sons of ex-Panama president to be sentenced on U.S. money laundering charges

[Judi Lynn]

Luc Cohen Reuters
PUBLISHED
MAY 20, 2022 12:08PM EDT

NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) - Two sons of former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli will be sentenced on Friday in a U.S. court for their roles in helping launder millions of dollars in bribe payments Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht made to a high-ranking Panamanian official.

Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences of between 9 and 11 years for Ricardo Martinelli, 43, who shares the same name as his father, and Luis Martinelli, 40. The case stems from Odebrecht's own 2016 guilty plea to bribery and money laundering charges related to the payment of more than $700 million in bribes to officials across Latin America to win contracts.

The Martinelli brothers pleaded guilty last year to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. authorities say they established offshore bank accounts in the names of shell companies to receive bribe payments Odebrecht made while their father was president from 2009 to 2014.

Prosecutors argued in court papers this month that their recommended sentences for both men would demonstrate that people "who cheat and steal from their own people to enrich themselves, and profit from the same, will be held accountable."

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https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/sons-of-ex-panama-president-to-be-sentenced-on-u.s.-money-laundering-charges

[onecaliberal]

1. If this were true, dump, his family & nearly all elected republicans could be behind bars for life.

“Prosecutors argued in court papers this month that their recommended sentences for both men would demonstrate that people "who cheat and steal from their own people to enrich themselves, and profit from the same, will be held accountable."