From The DOJ’s Docket
Lorenzo Plea
This October 2015 post highlighted alleged bribery at the United Nations charging John Ashe (described as having various positions at the U.N. including serving as the Permanent Representative of Antigua to the U.N. and recently serving as the President of the U.N. General Assembly) and others (including Francis Lorenzo, Ng Lap Seng and Jeff Yin) with a variety of criminal offenses based on allegations that payments were made to Ashe in connection with a U.N. sponsored conference center in Macau, China and to influence business interactions with Antiguan government officials.
Across The Pond, Rolls-Royce Also Resolves A $625 Million U.K. Enforcement Action
This recent post went in-depth into the $170 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Rolls-Royce. As mentioned in the post, the FCPA enforcement action against Rolls-Royce was part of a broader $800 million global resolution that also included a U.K. Serious Fraud Office component as well as Brazil law enforcement action.
The approximate $625 million U.K. enforcement action comprised the bulk of $800 million global resolution (that would seem to make sense, Rolls-Royce is after all a U.K. company) and is summarized below including the several failure to prevent bribery counts under the Bribery Act.
Former Och-Ziff Executives To Mount A Defense Against SEC’s FCPA (And Related) Claims
I am not suggesting that the following is a very meaningful statistic, but it is a fact: there has been more FCPA enforcement in the first week of the Trump administration than the first week of the Obama administration.
But then again “assigning” to the Trump administration yesterday’s SEC enforcement action against Michael Cohen and Vanja Baros (former Och-Ziff executives) based on the same core conduct as the DOJ and SEC’s September 2016 enforcement action against Och-Ziff is foolish just as it is foolish to “assign” FCPA enforcement in the first months (indeed the first year) of the Obama administration to the Obama Administration.
Yesterday’s enforcement action is not surprising as it was fairly obvious (as detailed in this prior post) that the main actors in the Och-Ziff matter were Cohen and Baros (even though not specifically named in the September 2016 resolution documents).
Rolls-Royce Resolves $170 Million FCPA Enforcement Action
If you were scoring at home, the last few weeks of the Obama administration were quite active for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement. But then again this was expected.
First it was the $13 million joke of an enforcement action against Mondelēz International, Inc. on January 9th. Then it was the $30.4 million Biomet became an FCPA repeat offender enforcement action on January 12th. Then it was no U.S. nexus, no problem $30.5 million enforcement action against Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A on January 13th. Then it was the DOJ’s announcement (summarized in this post) on January 17th that U.K. based Rolls-Royce plc agreed to pay the U.S. net approximate $170 million (including an unusual component never before seen in FCPA enforcement) to resolve an FCPA enforcement action concerning conduct in Thailand, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Angola and Iraq. Then it was $6 million Orthofix Int’l also became an FCPA repeat offender enforcement action on January 18th. Then in the finals hours of the Obama administration it was unusual $7 million enforcement action against Las Vegas Sands (headed by major Republican donor Sheldon Adelson who was front and center at Trump’s inauguration) based on the same core conduct as the SEC’s enforcement action against the company nine months earlier. Individual FCPA enforcement actions (here and here) were sprinkled in as well.
In An Unusual Development, The DOJ Brings A $7 Million FCPA Enforcement Action Against Las Vegas Sands Nine Months After The SEC’s $9 Million Enforcement Action Based On The Same Conduct
Parallel DOJ and SEC Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions against issuers based on the same core conduct are common. However, such actions are coordinated and announced on the same day.
In a highly unusual development, late yesterday the DOJ announced an FCPA action against Las Vegas based on the same core conduct at issue in the SEC’s April 2016 FCPA enforcement action against Las Vegas Sands. (See here and here prior posts).
Quite frankly, I can’t recall another instance of this happening.
But then again some strange things are happening in the final weeks and days of the Obama administration before existing DOJ officials exit. (See this Wall Street Journal article titled “Obama Administration Races To Finish Probes, Wring Payments From Firms” noting that in the past approximate week the U.S. has reached settlements worth approximately $20 billion).
Adding to the intrigue is that Sheldon Adelson (founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands) is a major Republican contributor.