CEO of Georgia Company Convicted in International Bribery and Money Laundering Case

A federal jury in Miami has convicted Carl Alan Zaglin, the 70-year-old owner and chief executive of Atlanco LLC, for his role in a long-running bribery and money laundering conspiracy involving senior Honduran officials.

The five-year scheme, which ran from March 2015 to November 2019, centred on lucrative contracts worth more than $10 million for the supply of uniforms and equipment to the Honduran National Police and other security agencies. Prosecutors demonstrated that Zaglin authorised hundreds of thousands of dollars in corrupt payments to senior figures at the Honduran procurement body Comité Técnico del Fideicomiso para la Administración del Fondo de Protección y Seguridad Poblacional (TASA).

Key recipients of the bribes included former TASA Executive Director Francisco Roberto Cosenza Centeno and Titular Director Juan Ramon Molina. Payments were channelled through an intermediary, Aldo Nestor Marchena, who received $2.5 million via sham invoices and funnelled the money to accounts in the United States, Belize and elsewhere.

To conceal their actions, the conspirators used coded language such as “commissions” and “fees” in correspondence, signed false brokerage agreements and relied on personal email accounts and encrypted messaging apps. Evidence showed that Zaglin and his associates deliberately disguised bribes as legitimate business expenses.

Zaglin was found guilty of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), direct violation of the FCPA, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He now faces up to 30 years in prison, with sentencing to be determined by a federal district judge.

His co-conspirators have already admitted their roles. Marchena and Cosenza both pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy earlier this year, while Molina entered a guilty plea in December 2024.

The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations’ Miami Field Office, with assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and international partners in Belize, Colombia and Spain.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti said the conviction reinforced the department’s commitment to combating corruption:

Bribing government officials to win business undermines the rule of law and distorts competitive markets. Today’s verdict reaffirms the Criminal Division’s determination to provide an equal playing field for American businesses.

This conviction highlights the Justice Department’s continuing efforts to enforce the FCPA and pursue complex cross-border financial crime cases. It also underlines the risks for companies whose executives resort to bribery and concealment in pursuit of overseas contracts.

Read the press release here.