Two Men Accused in PDVSA Bribery Case Lose Bids to Toss Charges

Two fugitives accused of participating in a sprawling conspiracy to bribe Petróleos de Venezuela SA officials for business advantages have lost their “pre-arraignment” motions to dismiss the charges.

Nervis Gerardo Villalobos-Cardenas, the former Vice Minister of Energy of Venezuela, and Javier Alvarado-Ochoa, the former President of PDVSA subsidiary Bariven SA, argued that the money laundering and conspiracy statutes didn’t authorize the government to proceed against them as foreign nationals for crimes that occurred outside the United States.

But the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas said their jurisdictional challenges were foreclosed by the law of the case. ...