Federal jury convicts former Goldman Sachs banker Asante Berko on all FCPA and money laundering counts
Risk profileHIGH — This action carries confirmed regulatory impact beyond its home jurisdiction.
On August 6, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced that Asante Kwaku Berko had been convicted on all counts following a nine-day trial before U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati. The conviction covers conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, substantive FCPA violations, and money laundering conspiracy arising from the bribery of Ghanaian government officials to advance a power plant development.
- Conviction on All Counts. The jury returned a verdict on every charged count, including FCPA conspiracy, substantive FCPA violations, and money laundering conspiracy. Berko faces a statutory maximum of 30 years in prison at sentencing.
- Individual Banker Liability Confirmed. The verdict establishes that a named individual, not a corporate entity, was prosecuted to conviction for FCPA violations arising from a specific infrastructure transaction. Financial institutions and their employees engaged in cross-border project finance and government-linked deal structuring now carry a confirmed individual-liability precedent from this proceeding.
- Ghana Power Sector as the Transaction Context. The charged conduct centered on bribes paid to Ghanaian government officials to secure approval for a power plant development. Firms with active or prospective government-linked energy or infrastructure mandates in West Africa operate against this enforcement backdrop.
- Money Laundering Conspiracy as a Parallel Charge. The indictment paired FCPA counts with money laundering conspiracy, a charging pattern the Department of Justice has used to extend sentencing exposure and asset-forfeiture reach beyond the bribery conduct itself. This pairing is now confirmed through verdict in this case.
Bottom lineThe verdict places individual criminal liability for FCPA violations squarely on a named former investment banker, with no corporate resolution absorbing or deflecting the exposure. Financial institutions whose personnel engage in government-linked cross-border transactions bear the compliance burden of demonstrating that deal-structuring activity, intermediary payments, and government-official interactions are documented, supervised, and consistent with the firm's anti-bribery controls. The money laundering conspiracy count, confirmed through verdict, extends the legal exposure surface beyond the bribery conduct itself to the movement and concealment of proceeds.
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