MIAMI, FL – A federal jury has convicted Carl Alan Zaglin, 70, of Marietta, Georgia, for orchestrating a nearly five-year-long scheme to bribe Honduran government officials and launder money to secure contracts worth over $10 million for his Georgia-based company, Atlanco LLC.
According to court documents and trial evidence, Zaglin, owner and CEO of Atlanco, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to officials with the Comité Técnico del Fideicomiso para la Administración del Fondo de Protección y Seguridad Poblacional (TASA), a Honduran government entity responsible for procuring goods for the Honduran National Police.
Zaglin authorized payments through a third-party intermediary, Aldo Nestor Marchena of Boca Raton, Florida, who received $2.5 million in funds under sham invoices. The payments were then funneled to former TASA officials Francisco Roberto Cosenza Centeno and Juan Ramon Molina, among others. In exchange, Zaglin and his co-conspirators received favorable treatment in securing and being paid for uniform and equipment contracts with TASA.
To conceal the scheme, the conspirators used coded language like “commissions” and “Miami,” falsified brokerage agreements, and used personal emails and encrypted apps to communicate. The laundered funds passed through Marchena’s front company and into accounts held for the benefit of Honduran officials in the U.S., Belize, and other locations.
Zaglin was convicted of one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), one count of violating the FCPA, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces up to five years in prison on each FCPA count and up to 20 years on the money laundering conspiracy count.
Marchena, Cosenza, and Molina have all previously pleaded guilty to related charges. The criminal indictment was unsealed on Dec. 20, 2023, with guilty pleas entered on June 5, Aug. 13, and Dec. 11, respectively.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami Field Office led the investigation with assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and authorities in Belize, Colombia, and Spain.
Sentencing will be determined by a federal judge at a later date.
