Cash for Vitol Bribes Was Handed Over in Houston Parking Lot

Thousands of dollars in bribe payments from oil trader Vitol Group were handed over to a Mexican oil official in a Houston parking lot, a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, heard on Monday.

The revelation is the latest from the trial of former Vitol trader Javier Aguilar to lift the lid on bribery in the commodity trading industry. Companies like Vitol have for years tried to shake off the popular image of deals won with brown envelopes full of cash, but five weeks of testimony has demonstrated that, in some cases, it has remained remarkably accurate.

Gonzalo Guzman, a ...