The arrest of a Gabonese man on charges of bribing African officials may help pull back the curtain on a long-running foreign corruption scandal that has ensnared the giant hedge fund founded by Daniel Och.

United States authorities on Tuesday arrested Samuel Mebiame, a consultant who worked for a joint venture involving Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, on charges that he paid bribes to foreign officials to secure mineral concessions in at least three African countries.

Prosecutors described Mr. Mebiame, the son of a former prime minister of Gabon, as a “fixer” who routinely paid bribes to officials in Niger, Guinea and Chad, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Federal District Court in Brooklyn.

Mr. Mebiame, 43, was arrested by F.B.I. agents in Brooklyn.

Och-Ziff, which manages more than $39 billion in assets, was not identified by name in the complaint, which instead refers to a “U.S.-based hedge fund.”