A Pennsylvania federal jury on Wednesday delivered a sweeping guilty verdict in the closely watched Hunter Hobson Coal Exec Bribes lawsuit, convicting former coal executive Charles Hunter Hobson after roughly five hours of deliberations in a high-stakes Foreign Corrupt Practices Act trial.
The decision came despite last year’s temporary pause in enforcement of the FCPA, underscoring that the gears of federal prosecution, once set in motion, can be difficult to stop.
Jury Convicts on Multiple Counts
Hobson was found guilty of two counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, conspiracy to violate the statute, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 25.
Prosecutors said Hobson, a former vice president at Corsa Coal, knowingly allowed his agent in Egypt to funnel portions of his commissions as bribes in exchange for lucrative coal contracts worth $143 million. The contracts were awarded between 2016 and 2018 by Al Nasr Co. for Coke and Chemicals, which prosecutors described as a government-affiliated Egyptian company.
According to the government, Hobson pocketed more than $200,000 in kickbacks tied to the arrangement. The alleged proceeds flowed through Western Union transfers, a trip to Dubai where Hobson returned with more than $30,000 in cash, and financial transfers between a Dubai shell company and its U.S. affiliate.
