AstraZeneca Coughs Up $5.5 Million To Resolve FCPA Action
Say an English company has Chinese and Russian subsidiaries which, approximately 6-10 years ago, provided various things of value to physicians in those countries.
The end result?
Why of course $5.5 million to the U.S. Treasury because the English company has American Depositary Shares registered with the SEC.
The above description is not make-believe, but a summary of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action released yesterday by the SEC against AstraZeneca Plc (a United Kingdom biopharmaceutical company).
DOJ Criminally Charges Gabonese National Connected To Och-Ziff With FCPA Conspiracy In Connection With African Mining Projects
Och-Ziff, a publicly-traded hedge fund that has been under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scrutiny since 2011 for its business dealings in Africa, recently disclosed that it is in discussions with the DOJ and SEC regarding resolution of the matter. As noted in this recent post, Och-Ziff has reserved over $400 million in anticipation of the resolution. (For the latest on this expected resolution see here).
In the meantime, a criminal complaint was recently unsealed charging Samuel Mebiame, a Gabonese national connected to Och-Ziff, with conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.
Indirect Mexico Subsidiary Exposes Key Energy Services To $5 Million FCPA Enforcement Action
Last Friday, the SEC announced this administrative order finding that Key Energy Services violated the books and records and internal control provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
In pertinent part, the SEC found that certain employees of an indirect Mexico subsidiary “abused their privileges, approving suspect arrangements with and payments to consultants and gifts to Mexican government officials at Pemex, and concealing these arrangements and payments from Key Energy.”
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Key Energy agreed to pay $5 million in disgorgement.
In Connection With A 2006 Argentine Labor Dispute, Chilean Airline Pays U.S. Government $22 Million
Five months ago, the SEC brought a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Ignacio Cueto Plaza (“Cueto”), the Chilean CEO of Santiago, Chile based LAN Airlines S.A. (“LAN”) for authorizing payments in 2006 and 2007 to a third party consultant in Argentina in connection with LAN’s attempts to settle disputes on wages and other work conditions between LAN Argentina S.A. (“LAN Argentina”), a subsidiary of LAN, and its employees.
Yesterday, the DOJ and SEC returned to the same conduct by announcing (here and here) parallel FCPA enforcement actions against LAN.
In short, the end result of an old labor dispute between a Chilean airline and Argentine workers is approximately $22 million flowing into the U.S. Treasury because LAN has shares that are traded on a U.S. exchange.
Friday Roundup
Scrutiny alerts and updates, sentenced, asset recovery, to FCPA Inc., across the pond, quotable and for the reading stack.
It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Scrutiny Alerts and Updates
Grupo Televisa
This Wall Street Journal article concerns Grupo Televisa SAB, a Mexican broadcaster with shares traded on the NYSE. According to the article: