The most recent FCPA and anticorruption enforcement developments involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are summarized below. Thanks as always to Squire Sanders Shanghai Office for monitoring these enforcement actions. New Law or Regulations State level: (1) Regulations on the Management of Governmental Affairs On July 9, the Chinese Sate Council promulgated the new … Continue Reading
On July 17, 2012, Nordam Group, Inc. (“Nordam”) an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (“MRO”) service provider based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, entered into a three-year non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the DOJ to resolve violations of the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions. Conduct According to the NPA, from 1999 until 2008, Nordam, its subsidiaries and affiliates paid bribes … Continue Reading
Orthofix International N.V. (“Orthofix”) entered into a consent to final judgment with the SEC and a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ to resolve FCPA violations by its Mexican subsidiary. Although the DOJ enforcement action involved a criminal information which remains sealed until a plea is entered in open court, the deferred prosecution agreement indicates … Continue Reading
On July 6, 2012, Patrick Joseph was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, and ordered to forfeit $955,596.69, for his role in the Haiti Teleco bribery scheme. Joseph, a former Director General for telecommunications at the Republic of Haiti’s state-owned national telecommunications company, Telecommunications D’Haiti (Haiti Teleco), had been charged with one … Continue Reading
The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have stressed the need for companies to conduct FCPA due diligence before entering into transactions with third parties or buying another company. The DOJ and SEC have levied stiff fines on companies that have not heeded their advice once violations of the FCPA have been discovered. … Continue Reading
Paul Cosgrove, the former head of worldwide sales at California-based valve manufacturer Control Components Inc. (CCI) pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Cosgrove is the fourth of six company executives to plead guilty to violating or conspiring to violate the FCPA. Cosgrove was previously scheduled to stand trial on June … Continue Reading
Charged by both the SEC and DOJ with violating the FCPA, Indiana-based medical device company Biomet, Inc. (“Biomet”) agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle the charges. The charges arose from SEC and DOJ’s ongoing global investigation into medical device companies bribing publicly-employed physicians. Although the company’s common stock is no longer publicly … Continue Reading
On February 21, 2012 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) sent a letter to the DOJ requesting guidance on “several issues and questions of significant concern to businesses seeking in good faith to comply with the FCPA.” The ILR raised the following issues: “Instrumentalities”: The ILR sought clarification on what types of … Continue Reading
Conduct Following the close of the prosecution’s case on a trial for charges arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), John Joseph O’Shea (“O’Shea”) was acquitted of all substantive FCPA counts, with the court (Southern District of Texas) finding that O’Shea’s conduct could be reasonably explained by lawful motives. O’Shea, a former general manager … Continue Reading
2011 was another banner year for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiating 23 and 25 enforcement actions, respectively, and collecting nearly $355 million and $148 million in fines. Numerous individual defendants were prosecuted under the FCPA, some successfully, and some not … Continue Reading
Magyar Telekom Plc and its majority owner Deutsche Telekom AG have agreed to pay a total of approximately $95 million in penalties arising from alleged violations of the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) stemming from conduct in Macedonia and Montenegro. Conduct Between 2005 and 2006, former executives … Continue Reading
Aon Corp., an Illinois-based world leader in risk management, insurance, and reinsurance brokerage services, has entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement (“NPA”) with the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and has settled a civil action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) stemming from alleged violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld Frederic Bourke’s bribery conviction. This decision is the culmination of investigations and court proceedings that began in 2000. Mr. Bourke, who co-founded handbag maker Dooney & Bourke, was convicted in November 2009 for violations under the FCPA after his business partner Viktor Kozeny … Continue Reading
Back in May, we brought you news of the first Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) jury verdict rendered against a corporate defendant in the case of Lindsey Manufacturing, Inc. (“Lindsey Manufacturing”), which stood accused of bribing and conspiring to bribe representatives of a state-owned Mexican utility through a third party intermediary. A jury convicted Lindsey … Continue Reading
As detailed in a previous blog post, a federal jury convicted Joel Esquinazi and Carlos Rodriguez, two former executives of Terra Telecommunications Corp. (“Terra”), earlier this year on all counts for their roles in a scheme to pay bribes to Haitian government officials at the state-owned Telecommunications D’Haiti S.A.M (Haiti Teleco). Federal District Judge Jose … Continue Reading
Europe’s largest insurance company, Germany-based Allianz SE, apparently is about to limit damages sustained by United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations. The insurer had been under US investigation for its possible involvement in two major bribe cases. The first case began after allegations gave rise to suspicion that Allianz employees were involved in … Continue Reading
On October 14, 2011, the DOJ dismissed bribery charges against Si Chan Wooh, the former Executive Vice President and head of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc.’s (“Schnitzer Steel”) Tacoma, Washington based subsidiary SSI International which oversaw Schnitzer Steel’s South Korean subsidiary, SSI Korea. Back in 2007, Wooh previously entered into a cooperation agreement with the DOJ … Continue Reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has issued an administrative cease and desist order as to Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (“Watts”), a water valve designer and retailer, and Leesen Chang (“Chang”), former general manager of Watts Valve Changsha Co., a wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary of Watts. Conduct Between 2006 and 2009, Chang, on behalf of Watts’s … Continue Reading
Following a two week trial, on August 4, 2011, a federal jury convicted Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez, former executives of Terra Telecommunications Corp. (“Terra”), on all counts for their roles in a scheme to pay bribes to Haitian government officials at the state-owned Telecommunications D’Haiti S.A.M (Haiti Teleco). The DOJ’s press release is here. … Continue Reading
London-based Diageo, the maker of popular liquor brands such as Johnnie Walker scotch and Smirnoff vodka, has agreed to pay more than $16 million to settle an administrative action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for violations of the books and records and internal control provisions of the FCPA. Conduct From 2003 to … Continue Reading
Armor Holdings, Inc., a military, security, and law enforcement equipment manufacturer, has agreed to pay a total of approximately $16 million to settle FCPA enforcement actions brought by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Conduct From 2001 to 2006, a subsidiary of Armor Holdings paid a third party (the … Continue Reading
It has been interesting to see the reactions around the world to the UK’s new Bribery Act 2010 (“Bribery Act”) which came into force earlier this month. Perhaps unsurprisingly, eyes have been on what the US has made of it given its long history in this area and the application of the Foreign Corrupt Practices … Continue Reading
In an unprecedented blow to the government’s assertion of jurisdiction under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), United States District Judge Richard Leon, presiding over the so-called Shot Show Sting cases, granted the Rule 29 acquittal motion of Defendant Pankesh Patel on the ground that the government could not establish that jurisdiction over “persons other … Continue Reading
Last week, Jorge Granados, former chief executive officer of Miami-based Latin Node, Inc. (Latinode) pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay bribes to government officials in Honduras. This is the latest chapter in the on-going saga of Latinode and its former executives who allegedly violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to officials … Continue Reading
