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That Stinks: Safran S.A. Quietly Resolves $17.2 Million Enforcement Action Involving “Train Lavatory Contracts”

By on December 24, 2022 in 2022 Enforcement Action, China, DOJ Enforcement Action, Foreign Non-Issuer Company, Safran, Third Parties, Voluntary Disclosure
Trainlavatory

Some Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions are accompanied by DOJ press releases and much fanfare and some are not.

In the later category, earlier this week this letter was quietly posted to the DOJ’s FCPA website indicating that Safran S.A. (a French company) resolved a $17.2 “declination with disgorgement” enforcement action.

According to the DOJ letter, bribery was “committed by employees and agents of the Company’s U.S. subsidiary Monogram Systems (Monogram) and its German subsidiary EVAC GmbH (EVAC).”

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Honeywell Resolves Net $82 Million FCPA Enforcement Action Concerning Conduct In Brazil And Algeria

By on December 20, 2022 in 2022 Enforcement Action, Algeria, Brazil, DOJ Enforcement Action, Honeywell, Oil and Gas Industry, SEC Enforcement Action, Third Parties, Unaoil
Honeywell

Turns out, things were not so well at Honeywell.

As highlighted in this prior post, in mid-2019 Honeywell disclosed that it was cooperating with the DOJ/SEC and Brazilian law enforcement investigations relating to its use of third parties in relation to Petrobras (Brazil) business as well as a matter involving a foreign subsidiary’s prior engagement of Unaoil in Algeria.

Yesterday, the DOJ and SEC announced (see here and here) a parallel Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Honeywell UOP (a U.S. based subsidiary of Honeywell International) and Honeywell International.

The net $82 million enforcement action involved a DOJ component (net $39.6 million) and an SEC component (net $42.4 million).

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ABB Becomes The First Company To Resolve THREE FCPA Enforcement Actions

By on December 6, 2022 in 2022 Enforcement Action, ABB, DOJ Enforcement Action, Foreign Issuers, Repeat Offenders, Root Causes, SEC Enforcement Action, South Africa, Third Parties, Uncategorized
Trifecta

The first time ABB resolved a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action was in 2004 concerning conduct in Nigeria, Angola and Kazakhstan.

The second time ABB resolved an FCPA enforcement action was in 2010 concerning conduct in Mexico as well as in connection with the Iraqi U.N. Oil for Food program.

Since 2017 (see here for the prior post), ABB has been under additional FCPA scrutiny and last Friday ABB became the first company to resolve an FCPA enforcement action for a third time. The latest enforcement action concerned conduct in South Africa and the net FCPA settlement amount was $147.5 million (a DOJ component of net $72.5 million and an SEC component of net $75 million).

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Berko Arrested On Recently Unsealed Criminal Charges Alleging The Same Core Conduct As The SEC’s Previously Resolved Enforcement Action

By on November 11, 2022 in 2022 Enforcement Action, Asante Berko, DOJ Enforcement Action, Financial Services Industry, Ghana, Goldman Sachs, Individual Enforcement Action, Obtain or Retain Business, Permits / Licenses / Customs / Tax
Berko

As highlighted in this prior post, in early 2020, the SEC announced the filing of a civil complaint charging Asante Berko (pictured – a former Executive Director of Goldman Sachs International) with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations and other charges for “orchestrating a bribery scheme to help a client [a Turkish energy company] win a government contract to build and operate an electrical power plant” in Ghana.

Berko publicly denied the SEC’s allegations and the SEC sought court approval to serve the summons and complaint via e-mail and through his U.S. counsel. Ultimately settlement negotiations commenced and in mid-2021 Berko agreed to resolve the matter. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, Berko agreed to pay $329,163.92 (disgorgement of $275,000 along with prejudgment interest of $54,163.92). The final judgment also permanently restrained and enjoined Berko from violating, directly or indirectly, the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.

Those who follow the FCPA, myself included, likely thought that was the end of the matter. Perhaps Berko himself thought that.

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Oracle Becomes The 20th Corporate FCPA Repeat Offender

By on September 28, 2022 in 2022 Enforcement Action, Customer Discounts, Distributor Issues, India, Oracle, Repeat Offenders, SEC Enforcement Action, Technology Industry, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
oracle

As highlighted in this prior post, in 2012 Oracle resolved a $2 million SEC Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action finding that “Oracle violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA by failing to prevent Oracle India Private Limited from keeping unauthorized side funds at distributors from 2005 to 2007.”

As a condition of settlement, Oracle consented to the entry of a final judgment, among other things, “permanently enjoining it from future violations” of the books and records and internal controls provisions and in resolving the matter the SEC noted the “significant enhancements” Oracle made to its FCPA compliance program.

Yesterday, the SEC announced a $22.9 million FCPA enforcement action against Oracle “to resolve charges that it violated provisions of the FCPA when subsidiaries in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and India created and used slush funds to bribe foreign officials in return for business between 2016 and 2019.”

In resolving a second FCPA enforcement action, Oracle becomes the 20th corporate FCPA repeat offender (see here for the list).

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