A Brazilian Telecom Company Hosted Brazilian Government Officials For Soccer Tournaments In Brazil – Five Years Later, U.S. Collects $4.1 Million In FCPA Enforcement Action
It is only fitting that one day after publishing this post regarding the SEC’s inconsistent enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (and how the SEC resolved an FCPA books and records and internal controls case for $0 against a U.S. company for engaging in accounting misconduct including the CEO of the company making misrepresentations to the market concerning $307 million) that the SEC brings this $4.1 million administrative action against Telefonica Brasil (a company with ADRs traded on the NYSE).
The conduct at issue?
You better sit down for this … the company “failed to devise and maintain sufficient internal accounting controls over a hospitality program that the company hosted in connection with the 2014 World Cup and 2013 Confederations Cup” both held in Brazil.
Fresenius Medical Care Pays Approximately $232 Million To Resolve Its Long-Standing FCPA Scrutiny
German healthcare firm Fresenius Medical Care AG (a company with American Depositary Receipt shares traded on the NYSE) has been under FCPA scrutiny since 2012 (no that is not a typo).
Today the DOJ and SEC announced (here and here) an approximate $232 million enforcement action ($84.7 million to the DOJ and $147 million to the SEC) against the company for alleged bribery schemes involving physicians and other healthcare personnel in Angola, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Spain, Turkey, Gabon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Niger, Cameroon China, Serbia, Bosnia, and Mexico.
While not specified in any of the resolution documents, the DOJ’s non-prosecution agreement and SEC’s administrative order make generic reference to the Angola and Saudi Arabia conduct involving ‘agents and employees utiliz[ing] the means and instrumentalities of U.S. interstate commerce, including the use of internet-based email accounts hosted by numerous service providers located in the United States.”
In Connection With MTS Enforcement Action, DOJ Also Announces Individual FCPA Criminal Charges As Well As Money Laundering Charges Against Alleged “Foreign Official”
In connection with the recent MTS Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action (see here for the prior post), the DOJ also announced FCPA and related criminal charges against Bekhzod Akhmedov (a citizen of Uzbekistan and former executive of an MTS entity) as well as money laundering charges against Gulnara Karimova (pictured – the former Uzbek official at the center of the telecom bribery scheme who allegedly had influence over the Uzbek governmental body that regulated the telecom industry).
Next Up – MTS Resolves $850 Million FCPA Enforcement Action
First it was Netherlands-based VimpelCom which resolved a net $398 million FCPA enforcement action in February 2016 for bribing an alleged Uzbekistan telecom official (see here and here for prior posts).
Then it was Sweden-based Telia which resolved a net $483 million FCPA enforcement action in September 2017 based on the same alleged core conduct. (see here and here for prior posts).
Recently, the SEC and DOJ announced (see here and here) that Russia-based Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (MTS) agreed to resolve an $850 million DOJ/SEC FCPA enforcement action based on the same alleged core conduct. This is the largest settlement amount in an FCPA enforcement action in history. (See here for a list of the top ten corporate enforcement actions).
The Case That Just Keeps On Giving – DOJ Announces Additional Charges In PDVSA Bribery Action
Several prior posts (see here, here, here and here for instance) have highlighted the clustering phenomenon and how a few discreet instances of alleged bribery yield an inordinate amount of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement activity against individuals.
One such example is the DOJ’s long-standing enforcement action (charges were first brought in late 2015) in connection with alleged corrupt schemes to secure contracts from Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, PDVSA.
Yesterday, the DOJ announced that two additional individuals were criminally charged “for their alleged roles in a scheme to corruptly secure business advantages, including contracts and payment on past due invoices, from Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).”