CCI Official Sentenced for Foreign Bribery

A former executive of a Rancho Santa Margarita-based valve company was sentenced today to four months in federal prison and four months of home confinement for bribing officials in Greece.

U.S. District Judge James Selna also ordered David Edmonds to pay at $20,000 fine, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas McCormick.

Edmonds, 60, of San Clemente, pleaded guilty June 14 to one count of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

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Edmonds was the former vice president of worldwide customer service for Control Components Inc. when he bribed officials of a Greek state-owned facility in July 2003, according to court records. The company designs and makes control valves used in the nuclear, oil, gas and power-generation industries.

Federal prosecutors had recommended 14 months in prison for Edmonds. When he finishes his time in prison and home confinement, he will be placed on three years of supervised release.

"Dave Edmonds is looking forward to moving on with his life and putting this chapter behind him," defense attorney David Wiechert said.

Co-defendant Paul Cosgrove, 65, of Laguna Niguel, the former head of global sales at CCI, pleaded guilty May 29 to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Cosgrove was not sentenced to time in prison because of his declining health. Instead, Selna ordered Cosgrove to perform 200 hours of community service.

While awaiting trial, Cosgrove had quadruple bypass heart surgery and was hospitalized several times with heart issues, according to his attorney, Thomas Bienert Jr.

Edmonds, Cosgrove and four other former CCI executives were indicted in the foreign bribery scheme and have since pleaded guilty, according to court records.

Also indicted were:

• Stuart Carson, the company's former chief executive;

• Hong Rose Carson, the company's former director of sales for China and Taiwan;

• Flavio Ricotti, the former CCI vice president of sales for Europe, Africa and the Middle East; and

• Han Yong Kim, the former president of the company's office in Korea.

Ricotti pleaded guilty last year to a count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Stuart and Hong Carson pleaded guilty in April of this year to bribing a foreign government official.

As a company, Control Components pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act on July 31, 2009. The company was ordered to pay an $18.2 million fine and put on probation for three years.

The firm acknowledged that, from 2003 through 2007, company executives made more than 230 bribes in more than 30 countries to get about $46.5 million in business, according to federal prosecutors.

Two other executives pleaded guilty to making bribes on behalf of the company.

Mario Covino, the former director of worldwide factory sales, pleaded guilty in January 2009 to a count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and admitted paying about $1 million in bribes.

Richard Morlok, the former finance director, pleaded guilty in February 2009 to a count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and admitted paying $628,000 in bribes.

Stuart and Rose Carson, Covino, Morlok and Ricotti are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

—City News Service