Business Crimes Hotline

The ICBL executives involved didn't disclose to their employer that the payments were for the benefit of a government official, with related invoices falsified to show the funds were being spent on purported "consulting services" for ICBL. It was not disputed at trial that neither the dental company nor Inniss had any actual business dealings with ICBL. The evidence further showed that Inniss used a personal email account to communicate with an executive from ICBL in connection with the bribe payments. Defense counsel had argued in part that the evidence did not support a finding that bribes had been paid to Inniss, because ICBL had won the two contracts on the strength of its merits after a rigorous vetting process by the BIDC board of directors. The trial before U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto ran for one week with a jury of five women and seven men returning their unanimous guilty verdict after less than two hours of deliberation.

The FBI's International Corruption Squad in New York City led the case and has publically acknowledged the cooperation of local law enforcement in Barbados during the investigation. Following the trial, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Richard P. Donoghue, said in a statement that, "[a]s a government official, Inniss was responsible for improving the economic development and quality of life for Barbados and its people. But as proven at trial, he corruptly abused his position and the U.S. financial system to enrich himself."

After initially charging Inniss alone in 2018, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment to include two alleged co-conspirators in relation to the same scheme: Ingrid Inness, former Insurance Corp of Barbados CEO and Alex Tasker, a former Senior Vice President of the company. Neither has appeared in court and the warrants for their arrest, should they visit the U.S., remain active.

Inniss' trial follows the earlier voluntary disclosure of Insurance Corp of Barbados to U.S. authorities, for which the company received a formal declination of prosecution in August 2018 under the U.S. Department of Justice's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Corporate Enforcement Policy. In its letter to the company confirming the declination, the Department cited several relevant factors, including ICBL's timely and voluntary self-disclosure, extensive cooperation, enhancements made to its compliance program and the termination of all executives and employees involved in the misconduct. The letter notes that the Department had subsequently been able to identify and charge the culpable individuals. ICBL also agreed to disgorge nearly $94,000 in net profits that it earnt from the illegally obtained government contracts.

Inniss' sentencing has not yet been scheduled and he remains on bail following the jury's verdict.

The case is U.S. v. Inniss et al., No. 1:18-cr-00134 (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York).

— Juliet Gunev, Mayer Brown