Atlanco CEO Carl Zaglin Convicted of International Bribery and Money Laundering in Miami Court

In a recent judgement that's shaking the law enforcement supply industry, Carl Alan Zaglin, CEO of Georgia-based Atlanco LLC, has been convicted on charges of international bribery and money laundering by a federal jury in Miami, Florida. Zaglin, 70, from Marietta, Georgia, was found guilty of devising a scheme to bribe Honduran officials over almost five years to secure lucrative contracts for his company, which specializes in manufacturing uniforms and accessories for law enforcement. According to the Department of Justice, Zaglin's actions were aimed at winning business with the Honduran government's TASA, which manages procurement for the National Police and other security agencies.

Evidence presented at trial showed that from March 2015 to November 2019, Zaglin had been orchestrating the payment of substantial bribes to government officials, which included Francisco Roberto Cosenza Centeno, former executive director of TASA, and Juan Ramon Molina, former TASA titular director, in a move to assure contracts worth more than $10 million for Atlanco, now known for its downside rather than its designs, Zaglin funneled these bribes through a third-party intermediary, Aldo Nestor Marchena, who resided in Boca Raton, Florida and received $2.5 million via sham invoices that Zaglin authorized. Marchena, along with Cosenza and Molina, has already pleaded guilty to their involvement in the corrupt activities.

The defendants made an effort to obscure their illicit acts through the use of coded language in their communications – referring to their bribes as "commissions" or "fees." When talking about Marchena, they would simply say "Miami," and referred to their foreign official counterparts as "the guys" or "the others." The tangled web of deceit included bogus "Brokerage Agreements," communication through personal emails and secured messaging services, and the funds intended for bribes were laundered across multiple accounts not just in the U.S., but in countries like Belize and Spain as well. "Instead of playing by the rules, Carl Zaglin unfairly sought to get ahead and enrich himself by paying bribes to Honduran officials," stated Matthew R. Galeotti, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, emphasizing the distortion of competitive markets due to such corruption, as noted by the Department of Justice.

Zaglin is now facing the legal music with convictions that include one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), one count of violating the FCPA itself, and a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering – he faces up to five years in prison for each FCPA charge and could see up to 20 years for the money laundering charge, sentences which are yet to be determined by a federal judge who will weigh in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with other factors. The prosecution was led by Trial Attorneys Peter L. Cooch and Clayton P. Solomon of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eli S. Rubin for the Southern District of Florida; the Homeland Security Investigations Miami Field Office spearheaded the investigation, with crucial support from international authorities.