Former Local Executive Sentenced to 13 Months for Bribes

A former Laguna Niguel executive of valve company who bribed an official in China was sentenced Thursday to 13 months of home confinement, his attorney said.

Paul Cosgrove, 65, of Laguna Niguel, former head of global sales at Control Components Inc., in Rancho Santa Margarita, pleaded guilty May 29 to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The company designs and makes control valves used in the nuclear, oil, gas and power-generation industries. U.S. District Judge James Selna also put Cosgrove on three years of probation and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service, attorney Thomas Bienert Jr. said.

Cosgrove told the judge that he accepted responsibility for his crime and he thanked prosecutors for showing concern about the defendant's health, Bienert said. As he awaited trial, Cosgrove had quadruple bypass heart surgery and was hospitalized several times with heart issues, Bienert said.

``Mr. Cosgrove is glad to have this matter behind him,'' Bienert said. ``He looks forward to finishing his probationary term and getting on with his life as a productive person.''

Cosgrove and five 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; -- David Edmonds, the company's former vice president of worldwide customer service; -- 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 April 28 of 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. Edmonds pleaded guilty June 14.

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, Edmonds, Covino, Morlok and Ricotti are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

--City News Service