The Justice Department is rightly trumpeting its successful sweep of the commodities trading industry.  DOJ’s success is reflected in its six separate corporate resolutions and 20 individual convictions, resulting in over $1.7 billion in penalties. Companies in the global commodities trading industry should take heed of DOJ’s focus.  Every significant player in the industry, if not under investigation, should audit and review their operations.  Those...

Trafigura’s bribery scheme resembles the same schemes implemented by its significant competitors — Vitol, Glencore, Gunvor.  At the core of the conduct, Petrobras and Brazilian government officials collected bribes in exchange for valuable contracts for Petrobras oil.  The factual statement reflects DOJ’s extensive knowledge base in the international commodity trading industry — DOJ had access to several significant cooperating witnesses, including Petrobras officials and trader...

Perhaps it is fitting to end this unusual FCPA enforcement year with another in a series of compliance reminders — the quickest way to experience a bribery scandal is to ignore third-party risks.  This has been a continuing theme this year and Freepoint is yet another example of why managing third-party risks is so important to any anti-bribery compliance program. The relevant facts underlying the...

In its first enforcement action of 2023, the Justice Department charged a Connecticut man and a foreign national with FCPA bribery and money laundering charges stemming from a bribery scheme to secure contracts with Petrobras in Brazil.  Glenn Oztemel was a senior oil and gas trader at two trading companies., and Eduardo Innecco, a dual Italian and Brazilian citizen, was an oil and gas broker...

Vitol’s bribery scheme stretched into three separate countries – Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico — and was carried out over a ten-year period. The Statement of Facts is instructive in describing the means by which Vitol used false documentation and financial arrangements involving offshore accounts, shell companies and correspondent banking transactions,  Brazil: Confidential Information For a nine-year period, 2005 to 2014, Vitol paid more than $8...