British lawyer to plead guilty in bribery case

HOUSTON (AP) — A British lawyer who had been fighting extradition to the U.S. on charges he helped a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary bribe Nigerian officials will plead guilty in the case, his attorney said Thursday.
Jeffrey Tesler was on his way to the United States and planned to enter a guilty plea in Houston federal court Friday, said his attorney, Bradley Simon.
Tesler, 62, was arrested in February 2009 on charges he helped steer bribe money from Houston-based Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC to Nigerian government officials to win more than $6 billion in construction contracts. A grand jury had indicted Tesler on 11 counts related to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Simon declined to comment on what count or counts Tesler would plead guilty to on Friday or why his client decided to plead guilty.
Tesler, a dual British and Israeli citizen, was arrested in London and had been fighting extradition to the U.S. His attorneys had argued that he should not be extradited because the alleged crimes did not have a substantial link to the U.S. and the passage of time might prevent a fair trial.
But in January, Britain's High Court said Tesler could be sent to the U.S.
Simon said Thursday that Tesler had waived extradition.
Another British man who was indicted with Tesler, Wojciech Chodan, pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He is set to be sentenced April 27.
The charges against the two men were part of a U.S. investigation of KBR's practices in Nigeria.
In February 2009, KBR pleaded guilty in Houston federal court to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by authorizing and paying bribes from 1995 to 2004 for contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria. The company agreed to pay more than $400 million in fines.
A major engineering and construction services company with operations around the world, KBR split from Halliburton in 2007.
KBR's former Chief Executive Albert "Jack" Stanley pleaded guilty in September 2008 for his role in the bribery scheme and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5.
In December, Nigeria's anti-corruption agency charged current and former KBR and Halliburton executives, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, who at one time led Halliburton, in the bribery scheme. But the charges were dropped a few weeks later after Halliburton agreed to pay a $35 million settlement.

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