The U.S. Justice Department is stepping up efforts to recover millions of dollars tied to a major foreign corruption and money laundering scheme involving a former Miami-based Merrill Lynch broker and his father, an Ecuadorian official. According to a report by Local 10 News, the investigation has led to the discovery that a multitude of Miami-Dade County assets, including real estate, possibly funded by bribes from Brazilian and Ecuadorian companies, are now under scrutiny.
Federal investigators claimed to have uncovered a network used to funnel approximately $16 million in bribes, where the construction giant Odebrecht alone was allegedly responsible for about $10 million over a span of five years. Carlos Polit, who served as the comptroller general of Ecuador, a role replete with the responsibility to staunchly curb public malfeasance, has been convicted on multiple counts of money laundering. His son, John Polit, has also been taken into custody and has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, as meticulously chronicled by a Crimewatch Miami post featuring the luxurious Brickell City Centre's Rise where a unit is linked to the case.
As the senior Polit awaits his sentencing, set for an upcoming date in federal court, his son is slated to be sentenced on January 30. The elder Polit, now 73, is pushing back against his conviction with an appeal, while the younger Polit had his day of reckoning last Tuesday, November 12 when he entered his plea.
