An ex-Russian official was sentenced Tues. for his role in a decade-long nuclear energy scheme

Investing.com -- A former Russian nuclear energy official residing in Maryland was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison on Tuesday for conspiracy to commit money laundering and for charges related to facilitating corrupt payments in order to influence the awarding of a contract involving a prominent Russian state-owned nuclear energy company.

Vadim Mikerin, 56, Chevy Chase, Maryland, was also ordered by a federal judge to forfeit more than $2.126 million as part of a sentencing agreement reached with prosecutors.

Mikerin pleaded guilty to the charges in August after two co-conspirators offered guilty pleas in connection with the case earlier in the summer. In June, Daren Condrey, 50, pleaded guilty for conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and conspiring to commit wire fraud in relation with the multi-year scheme. It came two days after Boris Rubizhevsky, 64, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with illegally transferring funds outside the U.S.

For a 10-year period from 2004 until 2014, Mikerin served as the director of the Pan American Department of Russian state-owned company JSC Technsabexport, more commonly known as TENEX. During the period, TENEX operated as the sole supplier and exporter of Russian Federation uranium and uranium enrichment services to nuclear power companies worldwide.

Mikerin along with Condrey and Rubizhevsky conspired to transfer wire payments from bank accounts in the U.S. to shell accounts in Latvia, Cyprus and Switzerland, according to court filings. As part of Mikerin's guilty plea, the energy official admitted that the funds were diverted with the intent to promote a corrupt payment scheme that violated the provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Mikerin also admitted in the plea agreement that the payments were made by a transportation corporation in order to secure an improper business advantage for U.S. companies that conducted transactions with TENEX.

In several instances, Mikerin admitted he used code words such as "lucky figure," "cake," and "remuneration," to conceal the true nature of the payments. In total, Mikerin, Condrey and Rubizhevsky conspired to transfer $2.126 million to the offshore shell accounts, according to court records.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General.