Philadelphia Export Company and Employees Indicted
for Paying Bribes to Foreign Officials

PHILADELPHIA - Acting United States Attorney Laurie Magid, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich, and FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk announced the unsealing today of a September 4th indictment (1) charging four individuals and their company with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The indictment also charges Nam Quoc Nguyen, Joseph T. Lukas, Kim Anh Nguyen, An Quoc Nguyen, and their company Nexus Technologies, Inc., with conspiracy.

Nexus Technologies, Inc., a Delaware company with offices in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Vietnam, purchased a wide variety of equipment and technology, including underwater mapping equipment, bomb containment equipment, helicopter parts, chemical detectors, satellite communication parts and air tracking systems, for export to agencies of the government of Vietnam. According to the indictment, from approximately 1999 through 2008, the defendants
engaged in a conspiracy to pay bribes to Vietnamese government officials in exchange for lucrative contracts to supply equipment and technology to Vietnamese government agencies. The defendants’ customers in Vietnam are alleged to have included multiple Vietnamese government agencies, including the commercial branches of Vietnam’s Ministries of Transport, Industry and Public Safety.

The indictment further alleges Nam Quoc Nguyen negotiated the contracts and bribes with the Vietnamese government officials, while Joseph T. Lukas negotiated with vendors in the United States. Kim Anh Nguyen, and An Quoc Nguyen allegedly arranged for the transfer of funds at Nam Quoc Nguyen’s direction. Over the course of the scheme, the defendants are alleged to have paid in excess of $150,000 in bribes to foreign officials in Vietnam.

"According to the indictment, these defendants incorporated bribes as a business practice, even referring to them as 'commissions,' in order to secure business,” said Magid. “They bought off Vietnamese government officials to ensure their company would win contracts. This corruption of the process is not only unfair and unethical, it is illegal and cripples the legitimate business person who is trying to succeed in the global economy.”

“Within the realm of white collar crime, the FBI's highest priority is public corruption,” said Fedarcyk. “Indictments, such as the one filed regarding the Nexus employees, are crucial to
a global playing field based on competition and not corruption. This holds true whether the
targeted American companies seek to bribe officials here in the US or thousands of miles away
overseas.”

Information Regarding the Defendants
Name	Address	Age
Nam Quoc Nguyen	Houston, TX	52
Joseph T. Lukas	Smithville, NJ	59
Kim Anh Nguyen	Philadelphia, PA	39
An Quoc Nguyen	Philadelphia, PA	32
Nexus Technologies, Inc.	Philadelphia, PA	N/A

If convicted of all charges, defendant Nam Quoc Nguyen faces a maximum possible sentence of 25 years incarceration and a $650,000 fine; defendant Joseph T. Lukas faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years incarceration and a $350,000 fine; defendant Kim Anh Nguyen faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years incarceration and a $550,000 fine; defendant An Quoc Nguyen faces a maximum possible sentence of 5 years incarceration, and a $250,000 fine; and defendant Nexus Technologies faces a maximum possible fine of $10,000,000.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement, and is being prosecuted by Assistant
United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams, and Trial Attorney Kathleen M Hamann of
the Fraud Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice.

(1) An Information or Indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 

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