Jeffrey Tesler

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Jeffrey Tesler, a solicitor, was convicted on 11 March 2011 in a US District Court of conspiracy to violate and aiding and abetting a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arising from a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain LNG construction contracts. He was sentenced in the US to 21 months imprisonment, a $25,000 fine and agreed to forfeit nearly $149 million. The SDT found all three allegations (conviction, plea agreement, and admission to the US court) proved beyond reasonable doubt, relying on the conviction under Rule 15(2) and his representative's admission of acts of bribery. The Tribunal found a gross lack of integrity (not an express finding of dishonesty) and ordered him struck off the Roll, with costs reduced to £7,000 (from an assessed £14,622.20) given his means.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Payment of very large sums (approximately $132 million in consulting fees, with bribes) to corrupt public officials
• Decade-long bribery scheme involving Nigerian government officials
• Conduct was corrupt and the Respondent knew it was corrupt
• Most serious kind of misconduct undermining the reputation of the profession

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters
• Health suffered from the stress of proceedings and incarceration
• Entered plea agreement voluntarily under threat of a potential 55-year sentence
• Bribery of foreign officials was not an offence in the UK until 2002