"Individual 1" - a key player in each of the Africa Sting indictments (see here) has been identified by the New York Times (see here) as Richard T. Bistrong, a former employee of Armor Holdings. (Armor Holdings, a former publicly-traded company, is currently a subsidiary of BAE Systems).
In an ironic twist, Bistrong was charged today in a criminal information (see here) with conspiracy - not for his role in the Africa Sting case - but a wholly separate bribe scheme.
The information charges Bistrong with conspiracy to violate the FCPA's antibribery provisions, books and records provisions, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and related Export Administration Regulations.
The conspiracy is broad in scope and includes charges that Bistrong conspired with others: (i) to obtain for his employer, United Nations body armor contracts (valued at $6 million) by causing his employer to pay $200,000 in commissions to an agent while knowing that the agent would pass along a portion of that money to a United Nations procurement officer (a "foreign official" per the FCPA) to cause the officer to award the contracts; (ii) to obtain for his employer, a $2.4 million pepper spray contract with the National Police Services Agency of the Netherlands by paying a Dutch agent approximately $15,000 while knowing that the agent would pass along some of that money to a procurement officer with the Police Services Agency to influence the contract; (iii) to obtain for his employer (although it was never obtained), a contract to sell fingerprint ink pads to the Independent National Elections Commission of Nigeria by making kickback payments to a commission official indirectly through an intermediary company.
As the New York times notes, a "criminal information is typically filed when the defendant has waived indictment and is negotiating a plea agreement."
The New York Times story concludes by describing the abrupt end to today's court hearing.
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