SENTENCED TO 102 MONTHS FOR STEALING MILLIONS
On Friday, January 17, 2025, the United States Department of Justice announced that Manuel Chang (69), the former Finance Minister of Mozambique, was sentenced to 102 months (8.5 years) in prison for his involvement in a $2 billion “international fraud, bribery, and money laundering scheme.” (Apparently, the guy received $7 million in bribes to further the scheme – which included signing $200 million in loan guarantees that falsely represented that the monies would be used for certain maritime projects.)
In a written statement, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, noted that, “Manuel Chang abused his position as Finance Minister of Mozambique by obtaining $7 million in bribe payments in exchange for helping secure more than $2 billion in loans …. Chang’s brazen misconduct betrayed his duty to the people of Mozambique and defrauded investors, including those in the United States, of substantial amounts. With today’s sentence, Chang has been held accountable for his violations of U.S. law.”
In addition to prison time, Chang was ordered to forfeit $7 million, while a restitution amount will be set at a later time.
Think Chang should have come clean rather than launder that dirty money?
(Yes, we can dish the dirt, for sure.)
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