It has also agreed to disgorge more than $12.7 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a related matter, as well as a penalty of $16 million.

Vitol paid bribes to offices in Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador in order to win lucrative business contracts and obtain competitive advantages, the DoJ said.

“Over a period of 15 years, Vitol paid millions of dollars in bribes to numerous public officials – in three separate countries – to obtain improper competitive advantages that results in significant illicit profits for the company,” said Brian Rabbitt, acting assistant attorney general at the DoJ’s criminal division.

According to Vitol’s admissions and court documents, between 2005 and 2014, the company and its co-conspirators paid bribes of more than $8 million to at least four officials at Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras in exchange for receiving confidential company pricing and competitor information.

Vitol concealed what it was doing by using intermediaries and a fictitious company that facilitated payments to offshore accounts, and ultimately to the Petrobras officials. The company also admitted to bribing at least five other Petrobras officials from 2011 to 2014 in exchange for receiving confidential pricing information that it used to win fuel oil contracts with Petrobras.

In addition, the trader confessed to a second conspiracy to paying bribes of more than $2 million to officials in Ecuador and Mexico in connection with buying and selling oil products between 2015 and July 2020.

“As recognized by the authorities, Vitol has cooperated extensively throughout this process,” said its CEO, Russell Hardy. “We understand the seriousness of this matter and are pleased it has been resolved. We will continue to enhance our procedures and controls in line with best practice.”

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist