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Real estate broker and nephew of former UN Secretary-General sentenced for trying to bribe a foreign official
On September 6, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York reportedly sentenced a real estate broker to six months in prison for trying to pay $2.5 million in bribes to a Qatari official in connection with a sale of a high rise building complex in Vietnam. The New York Times reported that Judge Ramos stated that he believed the broker deserved a lenient sentence. Law360 reported that Judge Ramos cited, among other factors, the consequences of a longer sentence on the broker’s immigration status. The sentence was ultimately far below what the government had requested.
As FCPA Scorecard previously reported, the broker pleaded guilty in January 2018 to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of violating the FCPA. He is a nephew of a former UN Secretary-General.
Additionally, on September 6, the SEC announced that the broker had agreed to pay $225,000 in disgorgement to settle civil FCPA violations arising from his conduct. The SEC’s order concluded that he violated the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA.
See previous FCPA Scorecard coverage here.
2nd Circuit rules that FCPA does not reach foreign individuals without their own ties to U.S.
On August 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the government’s argument for a broad interpretation of personal jurisdiction in FCPA cases, ruling that a non-resident foreign national lacking sufficient ties to a U.S. entity cannot be charged with conspiracy to violate the FCPA or with aiding and abetting an FCPA violation. The three-judge panel upheld the lower court’s finding that a British national and former French multinational rail transportation company executive (defendant-appellee), could not be charged with conspiring or aiding and abetting something he could not be directly charged with because he was “not an agent, employee, officer, director or shareholder of an American issuer or domestic concern” within the scope of the FCPA’s jurisdictional provision and had not himself taken actions inside the U.S.
The defendant-appellee was an employee of the French company’s UK subsidiary and worked for a French subsidiary. The government alleged that he was “one of the people responsible for approving the selection of, and authorizing payments to,” consultants used by the French company’s U.S. subsidiary to bribe Indonesian officials related to a power contract. The government alleged numerous U.S. acts in furtherance of the bribery (including e-mails and calls by the defendant-appellee to the U.S.), although the defendant-appellee himself never traveled to the U.S. during the scheme. The defendant-appellee was one of four executives charged in 2013 in connection with the bribes; the other three executives—all of whom worked for the U.S.-based subsidiary—a power generation equipment manufacturer (which entered into a deferred prosecution agreement)—entered guilty pleas. The company pleaded guilty in December 2014 and paid a fine of $772 million.
The charges against the defendant-appellee included a FCPA conspiracy count as well as substantive FCPA bribery violations and related money laundering charges. The District Court granted the defendant-appellee’s motion to dismiss part of the conspiracy count, ruling that if he was not alleged in that count to be a covered person under the FCPA, then the government could not impose accomplice liability either. Similarly, where the government had not alleged that the defendant-appellee ever traveled to the U.S. during the bribery scheme, then he could not be accused of conspiring to violate the provision proscribing acts by foreign nationals taken within the U.S. The District Court allowed the count to move forward where it separately alleged that the defendant-appellee was also an agent of the U.S. subsidiary, which would bring him within the FCPA’s defined reach.
The 2nd Circuit agreed with the District Court that if the defendant-appellee was not an agent of the French company’s U.S. subsidiary (something the court assumed for the purpose of the appeal only), and therefore himself covered under the FCPA, then he could not be charged with conspiracy or complicity liability. The court relied primarily on the idea that Congress enacted an “affirmative legislative policy” in the FCPA that was intended to punish some categories of defendants, taking into account considerations of extraterritoriality, while intentionally omitting others. Secondarily, the court also held that there was no “‘clearly expressed congressional intent to’ allow conspiracy and complicity liability to broaden the extraterritorial reach of the statute.” The court summed up its ruling as requiring that the government demonstrate that the defendant-appellee “falls within [a category enumerated in the FCPA] or acted illegally on American soil.”
The court did reverse the District Court’s second ruling that unless the defendant-appellee traveled to the U.S. during the bribery scheme, he could not be charged with conspiring to violate the FCPA provision covering acts by foreign nationals within the U.S. The government had indicated that it still intended, at trial on the other counts, to prove that he was an agent of the U.S. subsidiary, thereby bringing him back within the categories explicitly covered by the FCPA. (The substantive FCPA counts remaining did allege that the defendant-appellee was acting as an agent).
Barbadian insurance company receives first declination with disgorgement under FCPA corporate enforcement policy
On August 23, a Barbadian insurance company received the first declination with disgorgement from the DOJ under the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, which was made effective in November 2017. The conduct at issue involved payments made by the company to a Barbadian official in exchange for insurance contracts. The DOJ stated that the official, who is a U.S. legal permanent resident, laundered the payments through a New York-based company owned by a friend of the official. The declination was offered in consideration of numerous factors, including the company’s timely and voluntary disclosure of the conduct, its thorough internal investigation and cooperation with the DOJ’s investigation, its agreement to disgorge $93,900 in profits, and its efforts to enhance compliance and to remediate the matter by terminating all involved in the misconduct.
Another executive arrested in Venezuelan energy company bribery case
On August 1, DOJ announced the arrest of a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen on foreign bribery charges for making and conspiring to make corrupt payments to an official of a Venezuela’s state-owned energy company. He was arrested at Miami International Airport on an arrest warrant based on a criminal complaint in the Southern District of Texas, which was unsealed on July 31. He made an initial appearance before a magistrate judge in the Southern District of Florida.
According to the criminal complaint, the citizen and a co-conspirator paid at least $629,000 in bribes to a former company official in exchange for favorable business treatment for his companies, including: (1) directing company contracts to his companies, (2) giving his companies priority over other vendors to receive payments, and (3) awarding his companies contracts in U.S. dollars rather than Venezuelan bolivars.
DOJ has announced charges against 17 individuals, including the citizen, as part of its investigation into bribery at the company. 12 individuals have pleaded guilty.
Latest conviction in Venezuelan oil company bribery case
On July 16, 2018, a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The citizen’s convictions relate to allegations that he bribed officials at Venezuela’s state-owned oil company and laundered money for bribes to other company employees. FCPA Scorecard provided earlier coverage of this case here.
The citizen admitted to soliciting and directing bribes from two U.S. citizens in exchange for securing payment priority for their companies from the oil company and for awards of the company's contracts. The citizen also admitted to conspiring with these individuals to launder and conceal the proceeds of the scheme through a series of financial transactions, including wire transfers to offshore accounts. Sentencing is scheduled for September 24.
His conviction underscores how wide investigations can become as the DOJ continues pulling threads and obtaining guilty pleas. The DOJ has charged 15 defendants in the company's cases, 12 of whom have pleaded guilty to date, including the citizen. The DOJ also credited the assistance of the Swiss Federal Office of Justice and the Spanish Guardia Civil.
Paris-based multinational bank settles FCPA allegations concerning bribery of Libyan officials
On June 4, the DOJ announced that a Paris-based multinational bank and its wholly owned subsidiary agreed to pay $585 million to resolve charges in the United States and France involving bribes to Libyan officials. According to the DOJ, the bank will enter into a deferred prosecution agreement related to charges of conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions. The bank’s subsidiary will also plead guilty in the Eastern District of New York to similar charges. Almost $293 million of the resolution will be paid to France and credited by the U.S. This is the first coordinated anti-bribery enforcement action by the DOJ and French authorities.
The bank admitted that it had paid over $90 million in bribes through a Libyan broker in connection with 14 investments made by state-owned financial institutions in Libya. For each transaction, the bank paid the Libyan broker a commission, some of which the Libyan broker then paid to high ranking Libyan officials to secure the investments for the bank from the state institutions. This scheme resulted in the bank obtaining 13 investments and one restructuring from the Libyan state institutions, and earning approximately $523 million in profits. The scheme also involved payments for the benefit of a a Baltimore-based investment management firm subsidiary; the firm resolved its FCPA issues with the DOJ on the same day.
As part of the same deferred prosecution agreement, the bank also agreed to pay $275 million to resolve charges arising from manipulation of U.S.-dollar and Japanese yen LIBOR.
Macau real estate developer sentenced for bribing UN officials
On May 11, Judge Vernon S. Broderick of the SDNY sentenced a Macau real estate developer to 48 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $1 million fine, $302,977 in restitution, and forfeiture of $1.5 million. In July 2017, a jury convicted the developer of two counts of violating the FCPA, one count of paying bribes and gratuities, one count of money laundering, and two counts of conspiracy. The conduct centered on the developer’s role in bribing UN officials in order to build a new multi-billion dollar conference center in Macau.
Five other defendants have been charged; four have pleaded guilty to various charges, and one passed away and the charges against him were dismissed. Of the guilty pleas, two are awaiting sentencing. The other two received sentences of seven months (conspiracy to defraud the United States) and 20 months (bribery).
Prior Scorecard coverage of this matter can be viewed here.
Former Venezuelan official pleads guilty in bribery scheme
The DOJ announced on April 19, that a former Venezuelan official had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charge arose from the former official’s role in a bribery scheme involving bribes paid by the owners of U.S. companies to Venezuelan government officials to secure energy contracts and payments on outstanding invoices. As the former general manager of a procurement subsidiary of a Venezuelan state-owned energy company, he had solicited and accepted bribes. The judge entered a personal money judgment of $7,033,504.71. As a government official receiving the bribes, he could not be charged himself with FCPA offenses (which are targeted at those paying the bribes). Related charges against four other individuals remain pending, including charges of conspiracy to violate the FCPA; 11 individuals have already pleaded guilty in previous cases.
For prior coverage of the company's enforcement actions, please see here.
FCPA class action against Brazilian aerospace firm dismissed
A class action against a Brazilian aerospace firm was recently dismissed by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman. The class action, which was brought in federal district court in New York, alleged that the firm had failed to adequately disclose the scope and possible financial impact of ongoing corruption investigations by the DOJ and SEC, harming the company’s investors.
In granting the firm’s motion to dismiss, Judge Berman held that the company’s disclosures were sufficient as a matter of law, and that requiring disclosures advocated by the putative class plaintiffs would effectively require reporting companies to acknowledge guilt for conduct that was still being investigated and had not yet been charged.
The underlying bribery alleged in the complaint (and being investigated by regulators) involves the firm’s October 2016 admissions that from 2007 to 2011, company executives made payments to government officials in several countries, including the Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, and India, totaling $11.5 million. The firm received government contracts resulting in profits over $83 million in exchange.
This decision is a clear win for publicly traded companies currently under investigation for corruption-related conduct. Had the case proceeded, companies may have faced difficult choices between making more detailed disclosures to investors regarding the potential merits of ongoing investigations and protecting themselves against incriminatory public statements about these same matters.
Former media executive pleads guilty to bribing UN official
A Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen reportedly pleaded guilty this week to violations of the FCPA related to a scheme to bribe the UN General Assembly’s former president. The citizen is a former executive of a media group that focused on promoting UN development goals, but she was accused of paying the bribe to secure diplomatic postings. She pleaded guilty this week in the SDNY to three counts, including violating and conspiring to violate the FCPA, as well as income tax fraud.
The charges relate to her payment of $500,000 to the former president in April 2013 in exchange for receiving a diplomatic posting within the government of Antigua, where the former president previously served as a UN representative. She is just the most recent in a line of other individuals who have faced FCPA repercussions for bribes paid to the former president (who died in 2016), including a Chinese real estate businessman, who was found guilty of paying the fromer president and another individual bribes worth at least $1 million, and a former head of a New York-based foundation who also pleaded guilty to paying the former president bribes in excess of $800,000. As part of the citizen's plea, she admitted that she had failed to report approximately $2 million in income to the IRS.
This guilty plea illustrates how prosecutors are able to unwind even complex bribery schemes by methodically targeting individual participants. The criminal charges against her were likely bolstered by the string of preceding bribery cases involving similar payments to the former president that likewise resulted in a guilty pleas and verdicts.