A Houston-based former oil trader has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for his role in international bribery and money-laundering schemes involving officials in Mexico and Ecuador, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
Javier Aguilar, 52, was also ordered to forfeit approximately $7.13 million and pay a $100,000 fine after prosecutors said he helped pay more than $1 million in bribes to obtain and retain business for his former employer, Vitol Inc.
The schemes were tied to more than $500 million in oil and gas contracts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
The Department of Justice announced the case nationally on September 21. Aguilar was sentenced September 18 in federal court in Brooklyn.
More Than $1 Million In Bribes
Aguilar, a Mexican national living in Houston, worked as a trader in Vitol’s Houston office between 2015 and 2020.
According to DOJ, Aguilar paid more than $1 million in bribes to officials associated with Ecuador’s state-owned oil company Petroecuador and PEMEX Procurement International, a subsidiary of Mexico’s state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos, commonly known as PEMEX.
Prosecutors said the payments were intended to help Vitol obtain and retain lucrative energy business.
In Ecuador, Aguilar and his co-conspirators agreed to bribe senior government officials in an effort to secure a $300 million fuel-oil contract for Vitol.
Because Petroecuador restricted contracts with private companies, prosecutors said the conspirators used a Middle Eastern state-owned entity as an intermediary.
In exchange for the promised and completed bribe payments, Ecuadorian officials ensured that the intermediary and Vitol received the contract, according to DOJ.
Shell Companies And Fake Invoices
Prosecutors said Aguilar and his co-conspirators concealed the scheme through fake contracts, sham invoices and shell companies incorporated in Curaçao, Panama and the Cayman Islands.
Aguilar also used alias email accounts to communicate with others involved in the conspiracy, according to federal authorities.
The same system of shell companies and sham invoices was later used to launder bribe payments to two officials at PEMEX Procurement International.
Aguilar paid approximately $600,000 in bribes to PPI officials in an effort to secure contracts for Vitol to supply hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ethane gas to PEMEX, DOJ said.
Convicted At Trial, Then Pleaded Guilty
A federal jury convicted Aguilar in February 2024 of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, violating the FCPA and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with the Ecuador scheme.
He later pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Travel Act in connection with the Mexico scheme.
Seven of Aguilar’s co-conspirators, including three foreign government officials, have pleaded guilty for their roles in the schemes, according to DOJ.
Those defendants collectively agreed to forfeit more than $63 million in proceeds.
Vitol Previously Paid $135 Million
Aguilar’s prosecution followed an earlier federal case involving Vitol itself.
In December 2020, Vitol admitted to bribing officials in Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil in violation of federal anti-bribery laws.
The company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a combined $135 million in penalties as part of a coordinated resolution involving the Department of Justice, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Brazilian authorities.
The company’s earlier resolution did not end the government’s pursuit of individuals allegedly responsible for the underlying conduct.
The Dallas Express Has Tracked Other Texas-Linked PEMEX Cases
The Aguilar prosecution is separate from other PEMEX-related cases previously reported by The Dallas Express, but it adds another Texas connection to federal investigations involving Mexico’s state-owned energy industry.
In August 2025, The Dallas Express reported that federal prosecutors charged two Mexican nationals living in the Houston area in an unrelated alleged scheme involving PEMEX and PEMEX Exploración y Producción.
Prosecutors accused Ramon Alexandro Rovirosa Martinez of The Woodlands and Mario Alberto Avila Lizarraga of Spring of offering at least $150,000 in cash, luxury goods and other items to officials in an effort to obtain at least $2.5 million in contracts.
A jury later convicted Rovirosa, but that conviction did not stand.
As The Dallas Express subsequently reported, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt dismissed the indictment or, alternatively, acquitted Rovirosa in April 2026 and ordered him released.
The two prosecutions involved different defendants, companies and alleged conduct.
The Dallas Express has also reported on allegations involving illicit petroleum activity crossing the Texas-Mexico border.
In 2025, federal authorities charged members of a family connected to a South Texas oil business with allegedly helping smuggle crude oil and funneling more than $47 million to Mexican businesses prosecutors said were connected to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación.
That case is also separate from Aguilar’s bribery prosecution.
Four Years In Federal Prison
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said Aguilar’s sentence demonstrates the government’s commitment to pursuing corruption in international commodities markets.
“This sentence sends a powerful message of deterrence to those who might be tempted to engage in similar bribery schemes,” Nocella said in the September 21 DOJ announcement.
Assistant Attorney General Andrew A. Tysen Duva said the department would continue targeting people who use the U.S. financial system to facilitate international corruption and launder illicit proceeds.
Aguilar will serve 48 months in federal prison. Restitution will be determined later, and federal prosecutors said he will be deported to Mexico after completing his sentence.
The Dallas Express could not independently confirm Aguilar’s immigration status or whether he was lawfully present in the United States before his conviction.
