Sept 26 (Reuters) - A Connecticut oil and gas trader was

convicted on Thursday over a nearly eight-year scheme to bribe

officials at Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras

so two Connecticut trading companies could win

business, U.S. prosecutors said.

Glenn Oztemel, 65, of Westport, Connecticut, was found

guilty by a Bridgeport, Connecticut, jury on all seven counts he

faced, including money laundering, conspiracy and violating the

federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Oztemel and another defendant, Brazilian-Italian oil and gas

broker Eduardo Innecco, were accused of bribing officials to

help Arcadia Fuels and Freepoint Commodities win contracts and

learn confidential details about Petrobras' fuel oil business.

Prosecutors said Oztemel paid more than $1 million in bribes

that were split between Petrobras officials in Brazil and

Rodrigo Berkowitz, a Petrobras fuel trader in Houston.

The defendants allegedly used coded language such as

"breakfast," "breakfast servings" and "freight deviation" to

refer to bribes and bribe amounts.

Prosecutors said the scheme ran from 2010 to 2018. Oztemel

worked at both Arcadia and Freepoint, before retiring in 2020.

"We are very disappointed in today's verdict," Oztemel's

lawyer Nelson Boxer said in an email. "Glenn has had an

unblemished record for 40 years in the oil industry, and we will

continue to fight to clear Glenn's good name."

Innecco is awaiting extradition from France to face U.S.

charges. Oztemel's brother Gary Oztemel pleaded guilty to a

related money laundering charge in June.

Last December, Freepoint, based in Stamford, Connecticut,

entered a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay more

than $98 million to resolve related U.S. bribery charges.

Brazilian authorities had investigated Freepoint employees

as part of Operation Car Wash, a seven-year investigation into

suspected bribery involving Petrobras.

Berkowitz pleaded guilty in February 2019 in Brooklyn to a

money laundering conspiracy charge. He has yet to be sentenced,

court records show.