US DoJ finds commodity trading company Gunvor guilty to bribe Ecuadorean officials to win business and orders to pay over $600M in criminal penalties 

The charge arises out of a scheme to bribe officials of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Petroecuador, the Ecuadorian state-owned oil company, in order to obtain contracts to purchase oil products. The proceeding was held before US District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano. As part of the company’s sentence, Gunvor was ordered to pay a criminal penalty of approximately $661 million.