As highlighted in this prior post, in January 2018 the DOJ announced that Mark Lambert (a former co-president of Transport Logistics International) was criminally charged with FCPA and related violations concerning the same underlying bribery scheme alleged in prior enforcement actions involving Vadim Mikerin (an alleged Russian “foreign official”) and Daren Condrey.
This recent motion filed by Lambert to compel government disclosure of evidence highlights a counterintelligence investigation allegedly at issue in the enforcement action.
In pertinent part, the motion states (internal citations omitted):
“This case initially stems from a joint Department of Energy Office of Inspector General and FBI counterintelligence investigation dating back, at least, to 2009. Over the past decade, this investigation has seen the government covertly recruit confidential informants in what appears to be an attempt to entangle a Russian businessman living in the United States, Mr. Mikerin, into an illicit payment scheme, and then to leverage his precarious legal position to compel him to provide intelligence about certain high-ranking Russian government officials.
With regard to Mr. Lambert’s case, the government generally alleges that Mr. Mikerin solicited and accepted illicit payments from Transport Logistics International (TLI) in exchange for assistance in obtaining contracts for the transportation of enriched uranium. Remarkably, Mr. Lambert has now been told for the first time, based on a brand new government disclosure to Mr. Lambert’s counsel at the very end of March 2019, that Mr. Fisk [who died in 2011], president of TLI who, along with Mr. Mikerin, allegedly initiated the unlawful payment scheme, at that very time was a secret government operative working for, and being paid by the FBI. And all of this was apparently unfolding while a second secret government operative and paid FBI source, William Campbell, was directly involved in making purportedly illegal payments to Mr. Mikerin at the director of the FBI, and was reporting back to the FBI about the payment scheme.”
In the motion, Lambert seeks documents, including video and audio recordings, related to: (1) alleged co-conspirator Fisk, the initial co-conspirator with Mikerin, who subsequently is alleged to have recruited Mr. Lambert into the conspiracy and who has just been identified by the prosecution as a secret FBI operative; and (2) alleged co-conspirator Mr. Mikerin, the purported receipt of illicit payments. Additionally, Mr. Lambert seeks the underlying FBI 302s, interview memoranda, interview notes or other original source materials reflecting statements of any witnesses disclosed to Mr. Lambert, including those identified as having ‘potentially Brady, Giglio or Impeachment’ evidence, as well as the interview notes reflecting Mr. Lambert’s own statements made to law enforcement. The government has refused to provide all of these specifically requested materials.”