US judge sentences children of former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli to 36 months in prison for money laundering

Ricardo Martinelli, acquitted for the second time 6:04 (CNN Spanish) – A New York judge sentenced Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, sons of the former president of Panama Ricardo Martinelli. Judge Raymond J. Dearie also sentenced them to two years of supervised release after their time in prison. During the hearing, prosecutors and lawyers pointed out that both sentenced had been influenced by their father in the plot. This Friday, through a statement, the former president said that the defense of his children “obtained, according to the circumstances, a favorable result, far removed from the excessive claims of the prosecutors.” According to the statement, Martinelli “understands” that what was said in court “was the goal of his children’s defense” and that “in his conversations with them, he told them that their lawyers should do everything necessary to that end.” . The Martinelli brothers, who apologized to the Panamanian people for their crimes, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder bribery money related to the Brazilian company Odebrecht in December 2021, according to the US Department of Justice. According to prosecutors Americans, the brothers admitted “opening secret bank accounts in the name of shell companies in foreign countries and the United States, in order to conceal more than $28 million in bribes from Odebrecht for the benefit of a close relative, a high-ranking public official in Panama”. The brothers did not work as officials while their father was president of Panama between 2009 and 2014. The former president does not face any criminal case in the US in relation to the Odebrecht case. In Panama, Martinelli and his children still have pending legal proceedings related to the alleged payment of bribes by the company in the country. The former president has said in the past that he did not receive commissions from the Brazilian construction company for the award of works. In December 2016, Odebrecht pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to charges of conspiring to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), for his participation in the bribery and money laundering scheme , according to US authorities.