Business Executive From China Is Charged in U.N. Bribery Case
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Version 0 of 1. The broad United Nations corruption investigation that swept up a former president of the General Assembly expanded on Friday, as federal prosecutors charged a Chinese-born executive with paying at least $500,000 in bribes to buy diplomatic positions with the government of Antigua for her husband and another man. The bribe was “solicited and facilitated” by John W. Ashe, who served as General Assembly president for one year starting in September 2013, and Francis Lorenzo, a deputy permanent representative to the United Nations for the Dominican Republic, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Friday. Prosecutors have said that Mr. Ashe, who served as the permanent representative to the United Nations for Antigua, had participated in a scheme with Mr. Lorenzo and other defendants in which Mr. Ashe was paid more than $1.3 million in bribes. Mr. Ashe had solicited and accepted bribes since 2011 from Chinese businesspeople who were seeking to influence the actions of United Nations and Antiguan officials, prosecutors have said. Mr. Ashe was not charged with bribery, but he was charged with two counts of filing false federal tax returns. He has pleaded not guilty. The charges revealed on Friday against the executive, Julia Vivi Wang, 55, a naturalized United States citizen from China, came two days after Mr. Lorenzo, who was suspended from his post, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bribery and other counts, and agreed to cooperate with the investigation, according to his plea agreement. Two other defendants have also pleaded guilty. The charges against Ms. Wang, also known as Vivian, stem in part from interviews Mr. Lorenzo has given to the authorities as part of his cooperation, the complaint says. “It is crystal clear that Mr. Lorenzo has accepted full responsibility for his errors in judgment and his participation in the criminal conspiracies,” Mr. Lorenzo’s lawyer, Brian Bieber, said on Friday. Ms. Wang, who was charged with conspiracy and money laundering, was released on a $1.5 million bail, secured by property she owns in Rowland Heights, Calif. She must remain at her residence in New York, the government said. One of Ms. Wang’s lawyers, Raymond H. Wong, said Friday, “I think the government is seriously misinterpreting the facts.” Theoffice of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment. The complaint describes Ms. Wang as having served as vice president of an organization in New York, which she founded with her husband, that promotes sustainable development and the United Nation’s development goals. The organization is not identified in the document. Ms. Wang and her husband, who is not named in the complaint, told Mr. Lorenzo that they wanted to obtain an official post, like consul or envoy, because “they viewed such a position as a business opportunity.” The complaint says they believed such a position would allow them to make money by “assisting others to obtain so-called ‘economic citizenship,’” that is, citizenship for individuals who invest a certain amount of money in a country. The couple were willing to pay for such positions, according to the complaint, which was signed by Jason P. Alberts, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Lorenzo helped them “in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars” paid by Ms. Wang, the complaint says. It adds that Mr. Lorenzo understood, from speaking with Mr. Ashe about the proposal, that in exchange for granting the diplomatic posts, at least some of the money would be used to pay off one or more Antiguan officials, including the then prime minister of Antigua, who is not identified in the document. In March 2013, Mr. Ashe emailed Ms. Wang, attaching a letter to her husband that said Antigua was going to open an “investment office” in Hong Kong and that he would be appointed economic envoy/honorary consul. The other man would be appointed as the deputy. Ms. Wang’s husband has since died. At one point later, as Ms. Wang exchanged emails with Mr. Ashe and Mr. Lorenzo, the complaint says, Ms. Wang told Mr. Ashe that on his next visit to Hong Kong, her husband had arranged for a “nice suit for you.” |