The Global Oil Bribery Scheme Caught on Tape

[@mirkostanic92]

What is the difference between lobbying and bribery? 🧐

[@matt3935]

There is none, lobbying is just what American politicians like to call it as bribery doesn't have a nice ring to it.

[@imrimaz]

I was looking for this comment. None whatsoever

[@zacharywissinger3996]

It depends on whether those benefiting are part of the in-group or not.

[@mirkostanic92]

@@zacharywissinger3996 Aren't lobbyists representatives of corporations or non-profit organizations that are mostly funded by corporations that do tax deductions by donating to non-profits?🙂

[@zacharywissinger3996]

@@mirkostanic92 I don’t understand what you are getting at.

[@stoonookw]

Honestly, it's crazy that the US can put this guy in jail and cost Ecuador billions in lost revenue, but they can't put some of our politicians (and their family members) in jail for insider trading in the stock market.

[@aninda2457]

Exactly and I don’t understand how US is affected by a crime taking place in Latin America?

[@mikecrooks8085]

So now to get a clue somebody needs to tell us who has replaced the ecuadorian fixers. Somebody with more influence paying better and bigger bribes.

[@sutats]

Corruption is everywhere. All it takes is someone willing to dig. Great job guys.

[@yt.personal.identification]

The goal is to get your form of corruption to be legalised. That's what lobbyists are for.

[@InconspicuousOwl]

Commodity trading is a cutthroat game & bribes is juat how business is done in these countries. This dude seems like a scapegoat for the rest of the industry.

[@sandworm9528]

Exactly

[@theprestigerklopt5085]

Doesn't deny the fact that he is still guilty though

[@dummyfarm]

@@theprestigerklopt5085 It doesn't but he still is a small fish

[@HKim0072]

It's the most rigged game out there. Plus, the market is controlled by a handful of big firms which I guarantee are colluding on the direction of trades. People don't realize how little money it takes to corner the market and make commodity futures prices double.

[@functionalvanconversion4284]

💯

[@divinerespect309]

Lobbyists advocates big corporations = Billionaires Club

[@yt.personal.identification]

Oligarchs

[@xcel5203]

How many investment bankers were prosecuted or jailed in the 2008 banking crash ?

[@rabokarabekian409]

Just as many government people as were for fostering the 2008 schemes. Just as many as were prosecuted for faking the Iraq and Afghan war "reasons". One less than the fall guy for the Reagan-era Iran-Contra crimes. Just as many as were prosecuted for the Vietnam war "reasons". Just as many as were prosecuted for the ongoing Central and South American coups. Just as many as were prosecuted for the Korean war "reasons". Just as many as were prosecuted for the Spanish-American war "reasons". And so it goes.

[@tsubadaikhan6332]

@@rabokarabekian409 That's very bleak. And maybe accurate.

[@urbanstrencan]

Just crazy story, thanks for bringing us videos like this 🤟🤟❤

[@TexasRiverRat31254]

It's interesting how they "overlook" that the corruption doesn't just happen elsewhere in the world. I live in Texas, this was based in Houston, follow the money to the source and you'll have the rest of the story.

[@quattrocity9620]

I miss Paul Harvey

[@Jasonvmays]

Great job, now show a video about lobbying😂

[@frankcoffey]

Fantastic reporting.

[@gregheffley2]

FBI charged Aguilar for bribing a foreign official. Shouldn't this fall under Ecuador's jurisdiction?

[@aninda2457]

That’s what I am wondering

[@KiwiCatherineJemma]

A few years back, 'Merica changed its laws so that the FBI can enforce USA laws, in other countries (ie where USA's laws, don't normally apply).

[@davianoinglesias5030]

Who's in charge of the racket now? I'm guessing an American

[@doglegjake6788]

Very well put 😂

[@mikecrooks8085]

Not necessarily, it is who is the new racket paying now and how much?

[@confirmproductions]

The last sentence gave it all away! Beautifully summed up!

[@smarteveryday1606]

conclusion if you're not among the govt selected oligarch or not sharing profit with them you're not legal.

[@TiagoLageira]

El Gordo is literally the skinniest one.

[@RichardDressler]

The prosecutor, for reasons unexplained. Will be seeking only half the potential prison time... Sorry you were saying something about bribes?

[@johntaylor3298]

Meh, America didn't get their cut and were salty.

[@drmodestoesq]

Define "America" in this case.

[@xcel5203]

So why aren't the sanctimonious American lawmakers who are using their position and knowledge in legislative chambers for their own benefit not being prosecuted ?

[@Souchirouu]

Can you do a video on the NED (National Endowment of Democracy)? Their name keeps popping up whenever there are "democratic" elections where they seem to be major players in funding, providing marketing expertise and connecting high level officials to each other and other major players.

[@garrenosborne9623]

Thanks for the lead

[@adstix]

Do you have a similar video for Nigeria's oil industry? Many European and US companies have soiled their fingers there in cahoot with the local authorities but no big fish has been held accountable yet!

[@bernardkealey6449]

They don’t have a video like this about Nigerian corruption because there haven’t been any convictions with this sort of evidence. This is not a piece of investigative journalism, it is just recounting and showing evidence that was presented in court proceedings.

[@Drunken_Master]

This is how electricity trading works in southeastern Europe. State-owned electricity generation is still dominant, so you cannot close a deal without "greasing" the authorities.

[@Atilla-m9i]

This proves how valuable oil is as a commodity.

[@legoyoda256]

164 million dollars in fines paid to who though? The US goverment??

[@user-wn2ho5ij5f]

Don’t worry, they won’t use it for nefarious things, it would be used to help people 😀

[@legoyoda256]

@@user-wn2ho5ij5f nah I'm on about how this scammed the south African people but the fines would be paid to US government a whole different country

[@drmodestoesq]

@@user-wn2ho5ij5f How much does the American tax payer pay for social security, medicare, medicaid and welfare? That's a huge percentage of Federal spending. So yes, it will be used to help the American people.

[@DruggiePlays]

1:26 dude just described OGs like chapo and Escobar 😂

[@Optable]

Vitrol put up what 'money' to Oman instead? The barrels?

[@johnviscedo]

Their rivals must have paid off (lobbied) 🇺🇸 Uncle Sam first to take them out of the game 😂

[@Xergecuz]

Did the FBI guy admit that lobbying is a form of corruption?

[@yuckmouth]

He says "in countries where corruption is a fact of life."

[@terencewinters2154]

The damage to the state of ecuador was enormous . But since ecuadorian officials were not about to arrest their own the nexus of the case was in its US bribers and while they tried to hide it as a triangular transaction through Oman the directors of the corruption were in houston and miami. If the ecuadorian state officials were not in the fee/ bribe business and were just assisting in making the state coffers richer they d just be content with their salaries while seeking a better deal than the markup by oman which the briber/brokers negotiated . Fee or bribe difficult to tell until you see if the finders fee is going in the wrong direction.

[@senkumeow5095]

So the guy got jail time and the company just got a slap on the wrist to pay a small fee...

[@akhilesh5027]

Noob q - the monetary loss was primarily Ecuadors, the FBI did the investigation and the conviction happened in the US. Vitol paid a 164mn fine. Who got that money? Ecuador or US or ?

[@DouglasJWalker]

Respect Bloomberg

[@swatteam2002]

hopefully they cover the chinese influence .. IF they dare ..

[@Begbietheradge]

Nice cameo by Ewan McGregor as Tuco Pere

[@edition_8923]

This is very typical. They only go after the small fish; the big fish gets away with a fine, which may seem like a lot to your average person, but it's a drop in the ocean when it comes to the company's profits. Oil companies, drug companies, banks; THEY ALL GET AWAY WITH IT.

[@vikasrelwani2588]

We need similar reports for crude oil theft and corruption from Nigeria

[@drmodestoesq]

That would be as thick as an old New York phone book. A slimmer volume would be politicians and oil industry types that aren't involved in corruption.

[@functionalvanconversion4284]

We keep giving them money by being wasteful.

[@LivingWithGout]

If only greed knew limits.

[@henrythegreatamerican8136]

Not sure why this surprises anyone. Oil isn't the only commodity this happens with. It's just the most obvious to spot because of all the money involved. The quicker we move to green energy the better.

[@X-Warrior.1119]

Hey are you gonna fix that "ANDRETTI" video of yours from Power Players?!...

[@doglegjake6788]

They are Probably United States politicians 😂

[@KenzoQasim223]

These men are innocent

[@drmodestoesq]

They were looking after their families....how is that a crime?

[@nightmark2120]

Here comes the whataboutism of US and EU. Rather than going to their perspective countries official stop asking for bribes to win contracts rather than who can pay the highest cut to said politician where the money doesn't go to state to improve people lives but to their pockets.

[@carlose6010]

Give it up.. bribery is not a big issue in North America.. or the truly developed countries of Europe.

[@traderboi2662]

​@@carlose6010😂😂😂

[@waynejshynzhinds4434]

So if companies decide to stop using 3rd parties to do business, simply means they will now do the bribing, i mean lobbying themselves.... with billions at stake, big bizness isnt hit or miss. Its making sure u influence outcomes (doing watever to get ur desired outcome).... companies will pay 10m to a key official, if it will get them a billion in revenue.

[@mikecrooks8085]

So because you can't do business in 90% of the world without bribing someone, because of the laws in this country, all big businesses will move their productions, finances, legal responsibilities and trades, off shore. So just like shipping companies that must pay bribes to stay in business internationally, they are all owned and flagged out of country. They will only operate within USA jurisdiction somewhat legally (with the bribes better hidden) and the world will by shut of American business and trade.

[@amanulhaq9130]

This is precisely what is happening in LNG spot market/long term contracts.

[@gigante87]

What exactly did they do wrong?

[@ridhoabud9216]

INCOME TAX. If they report it to IRS it's call LOBBYING.

[@russellpengilley5924]

Bribed people to buy the product from the state owned oil company under market value, the loser was the people of Ecuador.

[@mikecrooks8085]

Yeah all I could gather they were shuffling money around taking a cut of everything and bribing some body some where for something. Sounds like the typical world of global finance and trading to me.

[@wv9529]

I dont understand how does this story involves the US in any way except that dollars where used as currency.

[@skyw4278]

It takes one to know one....criminals recognize criminals. They only talking about this now that the american dollar is USELESS!!!

[@skyw4278]

LOL...scammers talking about scammers.

[@michaelmokotong]

The first time?......It's a start.

[@filmawayvlad]

Was it legal? To tape-record them, that is?..

[@madn93]

Weird, lobbying that is...

[@samcavanagh7993]

$4.8 BILLION in profits and they're fined less than 200 mil???

[@rabokarabekian409]

There no more bribes. Now it is commissions.

[@VasVordokas]

Retrospectively, 2008 was the pivotal beginning of the end for Ecuador in the modern era. The only reason the resource curse didn’t implode the country sooner was dollarization and namely dollar remittances and US retirees

[@Lookintomyeyez]

When you find out trust me they keep it hidden from you the moment you find out oh I did this for you sure

[@hans6304]

Visit Indonesia.

[@paulc6766]

Better than its neighbour Australia.

[@enriquebalpstraffon]

Could you point me to information that shows Mexican officials involved in this corruption scheme?

[@Daniel-xb4yb]

So FBI investigates other countries wrongdoings but not its own

[@drmodestoesq]

Really? You can't think of a single person convicted of fraud in the United States?

[@globalismoblackman]

Did i hear Vitoil shady company since the 90' s just like Trafigura 😅😂🤣. Not surprised when these companies' names pop up with allegations of oil deal scandals.

[@theadchefer]

white collar crime usually gets 10 years or less… apparently this only applies when you match the white description lol

[@williamguru]

Nobody cares as long as the oil keeps flowing and the lights come on when they flip the switch.

[@eijazwalid4107]

Global oil Refineries ~ Earth's raw. ☺️

[@dwayne9959]

maybe I'm missing something but what's the big deal?

[@WillR-Cincy]

Certain industries these kind of transactions are standard procedures, if you can’t recognize how to set it up you won’t succeed. This description is very amateurish

[@billybeck8169]

+1 FBI rep points

[@hashimmirza3079]

All of them would have pleaded not guilty if they were from juice race

[@drmodestoesq]

Bernie Madoff, Ivan Boeskey, Charles Kushner....lots have been convicted and imprisoned.

[@jiboboji194]

American shameless hypocresy as usual.

[@quercus3290]

stupidly he forgot to bribe uncle sam

[@mexicanlawconsultant]

THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN AT ALL IN TODAY'S EFFICIENT AND HONEST GOVERNMENTS AROUND THE WORLD! BRIBERY IS A THING OF THE PAST 🤣

[@BASE5NYC]

Ridiculous. It's how business is done. Get over it nerds

[@morganhely5605]

This did not explain a single thing 😅

[@JebusHypocristosX]

The history of the petroleum industry reads like a 150 year long terrorist crime spree.

[@DNADirekt]

Und die Beamte gehen nicht in den Knast? Kotz!

[@opusnone1]

"it has at all times acted in accordance with applicable law..." blah-blah-blah!

[@julion89]

Ecuador 😂 Russia, Nigeria, Iran and Iraq are the big leagues Venezuela isn't producing much oil so hard to know the opportunities there

[@PowerofMoney-ko8mu20k]

🎉

[@Wpeter1611]

Poor dude, he did well. Sucks that the state has to get involved.

[@kcnl2522]

Lol you should be naive to think that you go and get 9 or 10digit gov contracts without greasing the wheel. Bribery at this level shall not be punished. Its not even a heinous crime, victimless.

[@HiteshJetwaniTechtesh]

7:15 "lobbying = bribery"