InfoBytes Blog
SEC announces several FCPA-related bribery settlements
At the end of September, the SEC announced three settlements resolving claims related to alleged violations of the FCPA.
On September 27, a UK-based bank holding company agreed to pay over $6 million to settle alleged charges that it violated the FCPA by hiring relatives of government officials and other clients in an attempt to secure business in the Asia Pacific-region. According to the SEC, the bank hired more than 100 people connected to foreign government officials or other clients through the bank’s unofficial intern “work experience program,” or as part of its formal internship program, graduate program, or for permanent positions. Employees then created false books and records that concealed the practices and circumvented internal controls in place to prevent the activities. In the administrative order, the SEC ultimately charged violations of the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the bank agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil money penalty (CMP) and more than $4.8 million in disgorgement and interest.
In a second administrative order announced the same day, a Canadian fuel technology company agreed to pay over $4.1 million to settle FCPA bribery charges connected to a Chinese government official. The SEC alleged that the company and its former CEO transferred shares of stock in a Chinese joint venture to a Chinese private equity fund, in which the official had a financial stake, in an attempt to secure business and obtain a $3.5 million dividend payment. The SEC noted that the company concealed the identity of the private equity fund in its books and records, as well as in its public filings, by “falsely identifying a different entity as the counterparty to the transaction,” and that the CEO circumvented and falsely certified the sufficiency of the company’s internal accounting controls put in place to prevent such actions. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the company and the CEO consented to a cease and desist order covering violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the FCPA, and agreed to pay a $1.5 million CMP and $120,000 CMP, respectively, and more than $2.5 million in disgorgement and interest.
On September 26, a Wisconsin-based marketing provider agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle FCPA charges related to bribery schemes in Peru and China. The alleged misconduct included the company’s Peruvian subsidiary paying or promising bribes to Peruvian government officials from at least 2011 to January 2016 in an attempt to secure sales contracts and avoid penalties, while also creating false records to conceal certain transactions with a sanctioned Cuban telecommunications company. The SEC stated that the company’s China-based subsidiary also made improper payments to employees of state owned entities and private customers through sham sales agents. According to the administrative order, the company violated the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA as well as the books and records and internal controls provisions, including by failing to ensure that its internal accounting controls were sufficient to prevent the alleged bribery schemes in Peru and China. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the company consented to a cease and desist order, agreed to pay a $2 million CMP and over $7.8 million in disgorgement and interest, and will, for a one-year period, self-report on its compliance program.