The Department of Justice (DOJ) culminated an ongoing investigation with the arrest of 22 executives and employees of companies in the military and law enforcement products industry. The arrests took place on Jan. 18 in Las Vegas as the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor  (SHOT) Show opened.

The suspects were indicted for engaging in schemes to bribe foreign government officials to obtain and retain business, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, along with U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, according to a DOJ news release. Twenty-one of the suspects were arrested in Las Vegas. One defendant was arrested in Miami. The indictments stem from an FBI undercover operation that focused on allegations of foreign bribery.

The 16 indictments unsealed today represent the largest single investigation and prosecution against individuals in the history of DOJ’s enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a law that prohibits U.S. persons and companies, and foreign persons and companies acting in the United States, from bribing foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. The indictments unsealed today were returned on Dec. 11, 2009, by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., according to the DOJ news release.

The indictments allege that the suspects engaged in a scheme to pay bribes to the minister of defense for a country in Africa. In fact, the scheme was part of the undercover operation, with no actual involvement from any minister of defense. As part of the undercover operation, the suspects allegedly agreed to pay a 20 percent "commission" to a sales agent whom the defendants believed represented the minister of defense in order to win a portion of a $15 million deal to outfit the country’s presidential guard.

In reality, the "sales agent" was an undercover FBI agent. The defendants allegedly agreed to create two price quotations in connection with the deals, with one quote representing the true cost of the goods and the second quote representing the true cost, plus the "commission."

The defendants also allegedly agreed to engage in a small "test" deal to show the minister of defense that he would personally receive the 10 percent bribe.

Among those arrested was Amaro Goncalves, vice president of law enforcement sales for Smith & Wesson. In a statement, S&W said, “Through media reports today, we became aware of the Justice Department enforcement actions which were taken yesterday and which made reference to an employee of our company. We have no information beyond what has been reported and are prepared to cooperate fully with law enforcement in their investigation into this matter.”