Maryland firm fined $2M for bribing Russian nuclear official

FULTON, Md. – A Maryland firm will pay a $2 million criminal penalty for bribing a Russian nuclear official for uranium-shipping contracts.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a Tuesday release Transport Logistics International Inc. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve the case charging the company with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s anti-bribery provisions.

TLI offers management services for transporting nuclear cargo.

Court document say TLI conspired to pay more than $1.7 million to offshore bank accounts associated with shell companies in Switzerland, Cyprus and Latvia. The beneficiary was Vadim Mikerin, a Maryland-based official with TENEX, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-controlled nuclear energy agency Rosatom that supplies uranium products.

Mikerin and TLI’s former co-presidents Daren Condrey and Mark Lambert were also charged in connection with the scheme. All involved TLI employees were fired.