FCPA Scorecard Blog
South Korean Earthquake Research Official Sentenced for Laundering Bribes
On October 2, the former director of the earthquake research center of South Korea’s Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Mr. Hoen-Cheol Chi, was reportedly sentenced in U.S. federal court to 14 months in prison for laundering bribes he had received in South Korea from seismology companies. Prosecutors argued to the federal jury, which convicted Mr. Chi in July, that Mr. Chi had demanded and received more than $1 million in bribes from two seismological companies in exchange for providing them with insider information and directed some of the funds to be transferred to his personal bank account in California.
Mr. Chi has not been charged in South Korea, and his conviction and sentencing in the United States illustrate the US DOJ’s continued focus on targeting foreign officials who receive bribes and then travel to the US or use its financial system.