Former Md. transport company exec charged with bribery

Mark Lambert, former co-president of a Maryland-based company specializing in nuclear materials transportation, was indicted for his alleged role in bribing officials connected with Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corp.    A former co-president of a Maryland-based company specializing in nuclear materials transportation was indicted for his alleged role in bribing officials connected with Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corp.
   According to the U.S. Justice Department, Mark Lambert, 54, of Mount Airy, Md., was charged in an 11-count indictment with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud, seven counts of violating the FCPA, two counts of wire fraud and one count of international promotion money laundering.
   The charges stem from an alleged scheme to bribe Vadim Mikerin, a Russian official at JSC Techsnabexport (TENEX), a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corp. and the sole supplier and exporter of Russian Federation uranium and uranium enrichment services to nuclear power companies worldwide, in order to secure contracts with TENEX.
   As early as 2009 and continuing until October 2014, Lambert’s company, Transportation Corporation A, wired the illicit payments to shell companies in Latvia, Cyprus and Switzerland. Lambert and others also allegedly used code words like “lucky figures,” “LF,” “lucky numbers,” and “cake” to describe the payments in emails to Mikerin at his personal email account, the Justice Department said.
   In June 2015, Lambert’s former co-president, Daren Condrey, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA and commit wire fraud, and Mikerin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering involving violations of the FCPA. Mikerin is currently serving a 48-month sentence in prison and Condrey is awaiting sentencing.
   Lambert is currently owner of the Dragon Distillery in Frederick, Md. William M. Sullivan Jr., Lambert’s attorney, rejected the charges and looks forward to challenging them in court, the Frederick News-Post reported.