Tagged: SEC FCPA

29 Sep, 2024

Episode 338 — Deep Dive into Deere SEC FCPA Settlement

The SEC’s recent settlement with Deere & Company for $9.9 million for FCPA violations is another textbook example of bribery schemes, which revealed the absence of a culture of compliance, and the circumvention of basic entertainment, hospitality and travel expense controls. Deere’s bribery scheme involved its Thailand subsidiary, Wirtgen Thailand, and various improper payments to government officials, including cash, sham consulting fees, extravagant “factory visit”...

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10 Jan, 2024

2023 FCPA Year in Review — Questioning the Tea Leaves and Trends

FCPA trends often are relatively easy to describe and often overblown as a marketing technique by the usual cast of paparazzi suspects. (Self-proclaimed prognosticators that often push incorrect themes to promote business, or those that restate profound grasps of the obvious). 2023 has been a strange year in a number of respects — socially, politically and even in the small universe of DOJ enforcement and...

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30 Jan, 2023

Episode 259 — Deep Dive into the Honeywell FCPA Case

Honeywell UOP (“Honeywell”) is a U.S.-based subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc. The settlement resolved bribery charges in the United States and Brazil stemming from bribes paid to high-ranking officials at Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company. Honeywell agreed to a three-year deferred purchase agreement (“DPA”), which was filed in the Southern District of Texas (Houston). Honeywell agreed to pay approximately $79 million in exchange for the...

General

15 Jun, 2022

SEC Joins DOJ in Probe of Ericsson ISIS Bribery Payments

Ericsson is having a tough time. First, in 2019, Ericsson settled FCPA charges with the Justice Department and the SEC for a total of $1 billion (with a B). Second, Ericsson had an independent compliance monitor appointed for a three-year term under its deferred prosecution agreement. And then — last year, Ericsson was notified by DOJ that it failed to conduct a proper internal investigation...

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24 Feb, 2022

Lessons Learned from the KT Corp. SEC FCPA Settlement (Part III of III)

Even though the size of the KT Corp. SEC enforcement action is relatively small, the underlying misconduct provides a number of important lessons learned. Let’s look at some of the most significant lessons learned: C-Suite Misconduct: KT’s slush fund was executed by a High-Level executive at KT Corp. and was funded through inflated bonus payments made to executives. Each executive returned the over-payment to the...

General

21 Feb, 2022

KT Corp. Settles SEC FCPA Case for $6.3 Million (Part I of III)

The SEC announced its first FCPA enforcement action in 2022. South Korean telecommunications company, KT Corporation, agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle FCPA violations. As part of the settlement, KT Corp. agreed to pay $3.5 million in civil penalties and $2.8 million in disgorgement. KT Corp. is South Korea’s largest telecommunications company. KT Corp. American Depositary Shares are traded on the New York Stock...

General

6 Dec, 2021

FCPA Enforcement Actions: “O DOJ, SEC, Wherefore Art Thou, DOJ & SEC?”

FCPA practitioners, In-house counsel and compliance officers, and yes, even the FCPA Paparazzi, have been patient enough. As the saying goes, talk is cheap. It is action that counts. We have written often enough about the coming storm – the Biden Administration’s long-anticipated ramp up of white collar enforcement, and FCPA actions in particular. The groundwork was set – the National Security Memorandum raising the...

Podcasts

28 Feb, 2021

Episode 183 — Review of DOJ’s Settlement with Deutsche Bank for FCPA and Spoofing Fraud Violations

Deutsche Bank, the infamous German bank connected to former President Trump, settled FCPA and fraud cases with the Justice Department and the SEC, and agreed to pay a total of $130 million. In this Episode, Michael Review reviews the Deutsche Bank settlement.

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9 Nov, 2020

DOJ Hits Beam Suntory with FCPA Settlement for $19.5 Million (Part I of II)

Beam Suntory, a global producer and distributor of distilled beverages, settled its FCPA case with DOJ for $19.5 million for bribes paid in India. The DOJ settlement follows an SEC FCPA settlement for $8 million announced on July 2, 2018. The timing of the FCPA settlements is unusual and suggests that DOJ’s resolution involved unique issues relating to Beam Suntory’s cooperation. The SEC resolution was...

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20 Oct, 2020

DOJ FCPA Settlement: J&F Investimentos’ Bribery Schemes (Part II of V)

J&F’s Investimentos bribery scheme was pervasive and was coordinated with a senior Brazilian Finance minister and orchestrated through the use of United States banking. The Brazilian official appears to be Guido Mantega, who went on to serve as Brazil’s finance minister. Given J&F’s large penalty in Brazil, DOJ’s resolution was reasonable in light of the consistent use of the US banking system to execute the...