Businessman guilty in Azerbaijan oil case - US jury

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - A U.S. businessman and friend of U.S. diplomat George Mitchell was found guilty on Friday of conspiracy to defraud the United States in an Azerbaijan oil venture bribery case.

Frederic Bourke, co-founder of handbag maker Dooney & Bourke, was found guilty by a Manhattan federal court jury of breaking the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and making false statements.

Bourke, 63, was found not guilty of conspiracy to launder money.

During the trial, which began on June 2, the jury heard testimony from former senator Mitchell, President Barack Obama's envoy to the Middle East, that he invested $200,000 in 1998 through his friend Bourke.

The charges against Bourke were made in 2005 in connection with an alleged conspiracy by another businessman, Czech national Viktor Kozeny, to bribe officials of Azerbaijan in a 1998 deal to buy a state-run oil company known as Socar.

Kozeny lives in the Bahamas and is fighting extradition.

U.S. prosecutors accused Bourke of investing $8 million with Kozeny knowing that he was paying millions to senior leaders of the former Soviet republic. The government alleged Kozeny wanted to buy Socar and resell it.

Bourke, who lives in Connecticut, denied knowledge of the bribes and accused Kozeny of stealing more than $180 million from him and other investors.