Judge Raymond J. Dearie announced the sentence, much less than the 9 to 11 years requested by the prosecution, who accused them of receiving 28 million dollars in bribes from the Brazilian multinational, of which 19 million had passed through US accounts.
Prosecutors were seeking sentences of between nine and 11 years in prison for Ricardo Martinelli, 43, his father’s namesake, and Luis Martinelli, 40.. For its part, the defense of the brothers considered that both had already served their sentence during their detention in Guatemala and New York.
The case stems from Odebrecht’s 2016 guilty plea to bribery and money laundering charges related to paying more than $700 million in bribes to Latin American officials to win contracts.
They betrayed his father
Both have been accused, since 2020, by the New York Eastern District Attorney’s Office of receiving bribes “for the benefit of a high-ranking official” in Panama” who, in addition, is a “close relative” of them.
And, according to the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa, that close person is his own father, former President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal. As exhibited in the reading of the sentence. Both the defense of the two accused brothers and the prosecution affirmed during the hearing this Friday that the former president benefited from the bribes.
Likewise, it is noted that the defense referred to the brothers as “two frightened children” who followed their father’s orders.