Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
9/4/2015
The former president of the U.S. branch of a Russian nuclear company on Monday pleaded guilty to helping to arrange more than $2 million in “corrupt payments” intended to aid U.S. businesses in securing contracts for his Moscow-based employer, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. Vadim Mikerin, 56, of Chevy Chase, Md., was president of TENAM Corp., a full subsidiary and representative of TENEX, which provides Russian uranium and uranium enrichment services to atomic energy operators around the world. TENEX itself is a branch of Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation.
Mikerin, along with two other identified individuals and others, conspired over the course of a decade to send $2,126,622 from the United States “to offshore shell company bank accounts located in Cyprus, Latvia and Switzerland … with the intent to promote a corrupt payment scheme that violated the [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act],” according to the DOJ statement. The payments, it says, “were made by conspirators to influence Mikerin and to secure improper business advantages for U.S. companies that did business with TENEX.” Mikerin is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 8 on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and “has agreed to the entry of a forfeiture money judgment” in the total amount of the illicit payments, the statement says. According to the plea agreement, Mikerin could face a maximum of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
Two other conspirators have also pleaded guilty in the case. Daren Condrey, 50, of Glenwood, Md., is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 2 on charges of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiring to commit wire fraud. Boris Rubizhevsky, 64, of Cloister, N.J., is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 19 for conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Asked whether any other individuals associated with the corrupt payments could face charges, DOJ spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment, saying “this remains an ongoing investigation.”
In a statement this week, TENAM said “TENAM, TENEX and Rosatom have cooperated fully with U.S. authorities throughout their investigation. TENEX also conducted its own independent investigation and did not find any other TENEX, TENAM or Rosatom-group employees or officials involved in this matter.” In the statement, TENAM’s newly appointed president , Fletcher Newton, said the three entities “will continue to ensure that our business operations adhere to the highest standards of integrity and transparency.”
