Tag: Cocktails

(Reuters) - When 17 employees of a dozen or so small and mid-size companies gathered for a cocktail reception last year at Clyde's restaurant in Washington, D.C., they toasted what they thought was the imminent completion of a $15 million arms deal to outfit the presidential guard of an African country.

Unbeknownst to them, FBI agents were secretly videotaping the meeting. To nail down the deal, the employees had allegedly agreed to pay 20 percent "commissions" to a sales agent they thought represented the African country's defense minister. The sales agent turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.