Carlos Pólit decided to submit to the procedure of collaboration with the US justice, which means that he accepts guilt in the charges for money laundering of bribes that he received in his capacity as Comptroller in Ecuador. But he changed his lawyer for the stage of his trial that should begin today, May 4, and in which he is accused of conspiracy to launder money as a result of corruption in the United States. Instead of Fernando LaTour Tamayo and James Aaron Odell of Coffey Burlington who accompanied him at the beginning of the process, he hired Howard Srebnick, a litigator famous for his defenses in high-profile criminal cases related to tax fraud and money laundering. In the USA.
Srebnick’s works include the acquittal of four-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves on tax evasion charges; as well as the exoneration for the same subject of the American football player and Super Bowl star, Tony Martin of the Miami Dolphins. His profile highlights that he has litigated twice before the US Supreme Court of Justice, something that very few lawyers in that country have achieved. According to information handled by experts with whom he spoke 4P. A lawyer at this level charges between $1,500 and $2,000 an hour.
Srebnick’s most famous cases are the defense of pop star Justin Bieber; the trial for extortion that the company Nike followed the lawyer Michael Avenatti and, the prosecution for possession of weapons of the rapper Lil Wayne, who after the conviction received a pardon from then President Donald Trump. Srebnick was also a lawyer for Venezuelan billionaire Carlos Gorrín, a Venezuelan television magnate, accused in the US of laundering at least 159 million dollars in bribes to officials of the Venezuelan National Treasury Office, who helped him get money through a complex network. of monetary controls. In this video you can see Srebnick’s performance during Justin Bieber’s trial.
According to the US justice system, collaboration with the justice system means that the State saves a large part of the process in exchange for the accused acknowledging his guilt and providing information that makes it possible to find other guilty parties with greater responsibility. Thus, the defendant receives a significant reduction in sentence. Polit was released from prison on $14 million bail, which Judge Chris McAliley accepted on Tuesday, May 3. The former comptroller, within the abbreviated trial, has until May 4 to start delivering information. Pólit’s new lawyer promised not to litigate for the assets if the Justice considers that they were obtained illegally.
In the accusation that the Florida prosecutor’s office makes of Pólit there are three central characters: he, who appears as the main person responsible for the money laundering conspiracy, and two accomplices whom he calls co-conspirators 1, 2 and 3. Two companies appear related to the case and are named: Odebrecht and Seguros Sucre.
The accusation of the Florida prosecutor’s office says that an Odebrecht official, called co-conspirator 2, gave Pólit bribes of 8 million dollars in exchange for using his status as comptroller and his influence so that his company wins contracts with the Ecuadorian state. It is inferred, from what was learned during the trial of the Odebrecht case, that this co-conspirator is José Conceição Santos, the official who recorded the conversations with Pólit where they talked about the bribes and the role that the former vice president had in his collection. George Glas.
The accusation maintains that co-conspirator 1 is a relative of Carlos Pólit and that he was in charge of making those funds disappear from the financial system of the US and Panama: it is inferred that he is John Pólit, son of the former comptroller. John Pólit appeared in testimonies and recordings during the Odebrecht scandal as the person who handled Carlos Pólit’s money in the US. That money, the indictment contends, was used to purchase a building in Florida. The prosecution of that State says that this co-conspirator first received the bribe money in cash and then convinced his father to do it through bank transfers. This coincides with an audio that was presented during the Odebrecht trial in which Pólit is heard telling José Conceição Santos that his son is in charge of the transfers, while he only receives cash.
Co-conspirator 3 is, according to the indictment, a private businessman who gave a bribe of 510 thousand dollars to Pólit to help him get contracts with Seguros Sucre, the state company that was managed by the Ecuadorian government. The indictment does not say the name of co-conspirator 3, but lawyers related to the matter in Miami told 4P. that it is about Diego Sánchez Silva. He appears in some photographs with Polit in Miami. That money, the indictment maintains, was used by the Pólits to improve a mansion in Coral Gables, which they sold in 2017 for $4 million. According to Florida prosecutors, “Carlos Pólit combined, conspired, confederated and agreed with Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, Co-Conspirator 3 and others, known and unknown to the Jury, to commit crimes ».
Polit’s trial has produced enormous political expectations due to the repercussions that his statements could have in the event that they involve politicians linked to the Odebrecht case, such as Jorge Glas, and others. The bribes paid by Odebrecht were agreed, according to Fernando Villavicencio, president of the Oversight Commission, with the blessing of the then president, Rafael Correa.
Photo: Public Media