STEARNS — The owners of ArmorShield, the armor products manufacturer located off Wilburn K. Ross Highway, were arrested last week in an undercover operation aimed at schemes to bribe a foreign official.

Israel "Wayne" Weisler, 63, and Michael Sacks, 66, tried to bribe an FBI agent - who was posing as a representative of the defense minister of an African country - to obtain a "lucrative" contract to supply body armor for the country's presidential guard, according to an indictment unsealed last Tuesday.

The indictment is one of 16 returned on December 11 by a grand jury for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The indictments represent the largest single investigation and prosecution against individuals in the history of U.S. Department of Justice’s enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a law that prohibits U.S. persons and companies, and foreign persons and companies acting in the United States, from bribing foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business.

"This ongoing investigation is the first large-scale use of undercover law enforcement techniques to uncover FCPA violations and the largest action ever undertaken by the Justice Department against individuals for FCPA violations," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. "The fight to erase foreign bribery from the corporate playbook will not be won overnight, but these actions are a turning point. From now on, would-be FCPA violators should stop and ponder whether the person they are trying to bribe might really be a federal agent."

Also charged are 20 other executives and employees at companies in Arkansas, Virginia, Florida, California, Massachusetts, Georgia and Pennsylvania as well as companies in the United Kingdom and Israel. Each company is involved with the military/law enforcement product industry.

The defendants allegedly agreed to pay a 20 percent commission to a sales agent they thought represented the African defense minister.

"Corrupt payments to foreign officials to obtain or retain business erode public confidence in our free market system and threaten to undermine foreign governments," said U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips. "These indictments set forth serious allegations and reflect the Department's commitment to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who try to advance their businesses through foreign bribery."

Weisler and Sacks' indictment indicates their company is based in Stearns but identifies it only as “Company A.” The Record has learned that FBI agents executed a search warrant at ArmorShield and questioned employees on Monday, January 18.

That same day, the day before the indictments were unsealed, most of the defendants — including Weisler and Sacks — were arrested by FBI agents in Las Vegas on the eve of the industry's annual trade show.

Each of the indictments allege that the defendants conspired to violate the FCPA, conspired to engage in money laundering, and engaged in substantive violations of the FCPA. The indictments also seek criminal forfeiture of the defendants’ ill gotten gains.

The maximum prison sentence for the conspiracy count and for each FCPA count is five years. The maximum sentence for the money laundering conspiracy charge is 20 years in prison.

"Investigating corruption at all levels is the number one priority of the FBI’s Criminal Division," said Assistant Director Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. "In this era of global commerce, the FBI is committed to curbing corruption at home or overseas. Companies should prosper through honest business practices, not the practice of back room deals and bribery."

These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Hank Bond Walther and Trial Attorney Laura N. Perkins of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and Matthew C. Solomon of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The cases were investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office squad that specializes in investigations into FCPA violations.