The former Minister of Industry of Barbados has been arrested and charged in an indictment with laundering bribes that he allegedly received from a Barbadian insurance company in exchange for official actions he took to secure government contracts for the insurance company.
Donville Inniss, a U.S. legal permanent resident who resided in Tampa, Florida, and Barbados, was charged in an indictment with one count of conspiracy to launder money and two counts of money laundering.
The indictment was returned under seal by a federal grand jury sitting in Brooklyn, New York.
The indictment alleged that in 2015 and 2016, Mr. Inniss took part in a scheme to launder into the United States approximately $36,000 in bribes that he received from high level executives of a Barbadian insurance company.
At the time, Mr. Inniss was a member of the Parliament of Barbados and the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce, and Small Business Development of Barbados.
As alleged, in exchange for the bribes, Mr. Inniss leveraged his position as the Minister of Industry to enable the Barbadian insurance company to obtain two government contracts.
To conceal the bribes, Mr. Inniss arranged to receive them through a U.S. bank account in the name of a dental company that had an address in Elmont, New York, according to prosecutors.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].