Former GE Angola CEO Convicted of Fraud and Identity Theft in Scheme Involving Subsidiary and Angolan Government

In a landmark decision for the energy industry, a former GE official was convicted of fraud and identity theft in a conspiracy that involved the Angolan government and a branch of the GE Company. Wilson Daniel Freita Da Costa was found guilty of spreading false documents to enable the Angolan government, which had not accepted the conditions of the forged documents, to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from a $1.1 billion GE loan, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

According to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, Da Costa’s acts constituted a flagrant abuse of trust for private benefit. “As a unanimous jury of his peers has found, Wilson Da Costa brazenly used forged documents to deceive a subdivision of the GE Company and the Angolan Government, causing hundreds of millions of dollars to be disbursed,” Williams said. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Da Costa was found guilty following a two-week trial that resulted in the former CEO of GE Angola facing up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and two charges of aggravated identity theft, each of which has a mandatory minimum two-year sentence.

According to the trial’s trail of deception, Da Costa distributed forged documents on Angolan government letterhead, faking official signatures, with the goal to commit fraud. Da Costa started a series of fraudulent financial transactions by making these bogus promises to buy more GE-manufactured turbines than had been agreed upon. Da Costa redoubled his efforts and continued to use the same falsified documents when doubts emerged over the precise quantity of turbines that the Angolan government had ordered.

These activities had two consequences: Da Costa padded his own wallet with kickbacks from the contracts, and the Angolan government was faced with unwanted financial commitments. He is currently awaiting punishment before Judge P. Kevin Castel on February 26, 2025, for his involvement in this intricate scam. Homeland Security Investigations conducted a thorough investigation into the case, and the Office’s Illicit Finance & Money Laundering Unit brought charges. Williams also thanked the Paralegal Specialists and Assistant U.S. Attorneys for their commitment to closing this case.

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