Judge David Hittner in the Southern District of Texas ordered Diego Bergonzi to forfeit $1,019,757 earlier this week, the exact proceeds Bergonzi pocketed by bribing a PEMEX official to secure a drilling equipment contract.
Bergonzi, former Vice President of Sales at Drillmec, a Texas-based drilling equipment company, was charged in a January 2025 criminal information with conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions and commit wire fraud. Unsealed this week, the information alleges Bergonzi’s responsibilities at Drillmec included obtaining a December 2021 contract with PEMEX and then overseeing delivery of equipment under it. He didn’t win that contract on the merits, according to prosecutors: he bribed a senior executive at PEMEX Exploración y Producción, PEMEX’s wholly owned exploration and production subsidiary, who held that post between 2018 and 2021.
Bergonzi, a U.S.-Italian dual citizen since 2018 and a Southern District of Texas resident, pleaded guilty on June 30, 2025. Judge Hittner noted the forfeiture order “will be made part of the Defendant’s sentence and included in the judgement against him.”
The same scheme ensnared Alfonso Wilson, CEO of Oil Technologies Consortium, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in connection with obtaining and retaining the same December 2021 PEMEX contract. Wilson was charged in a March 2026 criminal information and faces sentencing on June 26, 2026.
Bergonzi’s sentencing date hasn’t been set.
James Okafor