Gabon Grenade Sale Bribery Case Filed With Rajaratnam Tactics

The U.S. Justice Department, fresh from convicting Galleon Group LLC’s Raj Rajaratnam with the unprecedented use of wiretaps on Wall Street, leveraged similar tactics to charge security industry executives in the biggest prosecution of individuals for foreign bribery.

The four defendants, whose trial begins today in federal court in Washington, are part of a 22-defendant kickback conspiracy case resulting from a government sting operation and a fake $15 million weapons deal. Prosecutors alleged the defendants sought to provide guns, grenades and uniforms for the presidential guard of Gabon in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and laws against money laundering.