Month in a Minute: Second Quarter 2026

After a brief hiatus, the “Month in a Minute” is back! Hughes Hubbard’s anti-corruption “Month in a Minute” offers a quick snapshot of the key foreign corruption-related developments from the prior month. We hope you find it a useful and perhaps enjoyable resource.

Below are some highlights from the second quarter of 2026, which include an acquittal for a Texas businessman, a settlement for members of the Adani conglomerate, a guilty plea from a former Stericycle executive and probation for a Honduran government official.

Houston Businessman Acquitted on FCPA Charges

On April 14, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered the release and acquittal of Texas businessman Ramón Alexandro Rovirosa Martínez, who was previously found guilty on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) charges.

Rovirosa and his co-conspirator Mario Alberto Ávila Lizarraga, both Mexican citizens, were indicted in August 2025 on one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and three counts of violating the FCPA for allegedly bribing Pemex officials. The indictment alleged that from June 2019 to October 2021, Rovirosa and Ávila paid approximately $150,000 in cash and luxury items to Pemex officials. The bribe payments allegedly helped Rovirosa and Ávila obtain $2.5 million in Pemex contracts for energy companies associated with Rovirosa.

In December 2025, a federal jury found Rovirosa guilty on two of the three counts of violating the FCPA and on one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. In acquitting Rovirosa, Judge Hoyt held that the government’s case violated the Sixth Amendment confrontation clause because prosecutors relied on translated messages to prove the elements of the offenses but did not produce the translators for cross‑examination. According to Judge Hoyt, the government’s failure to produce translators and failure to produce the original Spanish-language messages for review by the jury warranted acquittal.

On May 8, prosecutors filed an appeal, which is pending. Ávila remains at large and is wanted in connection with the scheme. For our prior coverage on the allegations against Rovirosa, please see our editions from July and August 2025, September 2025, and December 2025.

Adanis Settle SEC Case; DOJ May Drop Related Charges

On May 14, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced it had reached an $18 million settlement with Gautam Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, to resolve civil allegations connected to an alleged bribery scheme involving Indian solar energy contracts. Under the settlement, Gautam Adani will pay $6 million and Sagar Adani will pay $12 million, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations.

The SEC’s case stemmed from allegations that the Adanis concealed a substantial bribery scheme from U.S. investors and financial institutions while raising capital. The alleged misconduct centered on claims that bribes were paid, or promised, to Indian officials to secure favorable solar power contracts. For additional information on the scheme, please see our November 2024 edition.

The SEC’s resolution may also affect the parallel criminal case. U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors reportedly have indicated that after reassessing the matter, the DOJ may no longer pursue criminal proceedings against the Adanis. If the DOJ abandoned the case, the matter would mark a significant narrowing of U.S. enforcement exposure for the defendants, leaving the SEC settlement as the principal U.S. resolution.

Former Stericycle Finance Director Pleads Guilty

On May 21, Abraham Cigarroa Cervantes, a former finance director at Stericycle’s Latin American branch, pleaded guilty to charges that he violated the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA. The guilty plea comes after Cigarroa initially pleaded not guilty on April 24.

Cigarroa was indicted on March 19, 2024. The indictment alleged that between December 2011 and April 2016, Cigarroa and his co-conspirators paid approximately $10.5 million in bribes to officials in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina to help Stericycle obtain government contracts for medical waste collection. Cigarroa and his co-conspirators allegedly concealed the bribe payments by making false entries in Stericycle’s books and records. They also allegedly tracked the bribe payments through spreadsheets using code words such as “IP” and “advanced payments.”

As part of his plea agreement, Cigarroa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, for which he faces up to five years’ imprisonment, supervised release of up to three years and a fine of up to $250,000. In connection with the same scheme, Stericycle’s senior vice president, Mauricio Gomez Baez, pleaded guilty in February 2024 to one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. In addition, Stericycle entered into a DPA in April 2022 to resolve parallel investigations by the DOJ and SEC into the scheme, agreeing to pay more than $80 million in penalties and disgorgement.

Francisco Cosenza Sentencing

On June 5, Francisco Roberto Cosenza Centeno, a Honduran government official, was sentenced to five years’ probation after pleading guilty to accepting bribe payments.

Between 2015 and 2019, Carl Zaglin, the owner of a Georgia-based manufacturer of police uniforms and accessories, and his co-conspirator Aldo Nestor Marchena paid over $2.5 million in bribes to Honduran government officials, including Cosenza, the former executive director of the Comité Técnico del Fideicomiso para la Administración del Fondo de Protección y Seguridad Poblacional (TASA). TASA is the Honduran government agency responsible for procuring goods for the Honduran National Police. Marchena and Zaglin allegedly paid the bribes in exchange for more than $10 million in contracts with TASA.

Cosenza’s sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty in August 2025 to accepting nearly $188,000 in bribes. As part of his sentencing, Cosenza was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to forfeit two Cartier watches. Marchena pleaded guilty in June 2025 to a charge of money laundering conspiracy and was sentenced in November 2025 to 84 months in prison. Zaglin was ultimately convicted on FCPA and money laundering charges and in December 2025 was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to forfeit $2 million.

Fact of the Month

“Houston, we have a problem . . .” On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 launched from the Kennedy Space Center. Apollo 13 was intended to be the third moon landing; however, two days into the mission an oxygen tank exploded in the service module, forcing astronauts John L. Swigert, James A. Lovell and Fred W. Haise to transfer into the lunar module. The crew then began a perilous return trip to Earth, which included looping around the moon. In doing so, they set a record for the greatest distance humans had traveled from Earth at 248,655 miles. This record was broken 56 years later, in April 2026, when the Artemis II mission flew 252,756 miles from Earth, on a lunar trajectory similar to that of Apollo 13.