Late last Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend, the SEC released one of the more pedestrian FCPA enforcement actions of recent memory.
The action involved Gartner Inc. (a technological research and consulting company) concerning conduct in 2014 and 2015 in South Africa.
To resolve the matter, Gartner agreed to pay approximately $2.5 million (856,764 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a $1.6 million civil penalty).
In summary fashion, this administrative order states:
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act corporate repeat offender club is getting so large, that it really is not all that exclusive.
In 2013, Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (“Philips”), a Netherlands-based company with shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange, resolved a $4.5 million FCPA enforcement action concerning conduct in Poland. (See here for the prior post).
In resolving the matter, Philips consented to entry of the Order prohibiting future FCPA violations.
Yesterday, the SEC announced that Philips agreed to pay “more than $62 million to resolve charges that it violated the FCPA” with respect to conduct related to its sales of medical diagnostic equipment in China.”
The SEC has announced that Frank’s International N.V., (a Dutch oilfield services provider) now known as Expro Group Holdings N.V., has resolved an approximate $8 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action.
The conduct at issue based focuses on Angola and occurred between 2008 and 2014 (in other words approximately 10-15 years ago).
This administrative order finds in summary fashion:
In December 2022, the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Samuel Bankman-Fried arising from an “alleged wide-ranging scheme by [him] to misappropriate billions of dollars of customer funds deposited with FTX, the international cryptocurrency exchange [he] founded …, and mislead investors and lenders to FTX and to Alameda Research, the cryptocurrency hedge fund [he] also founded.”
Specifically, Bankman-Friend was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and commit campaign finance violations.
Yesterday, the DOJ filed a superseding indictment adding a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act conspiracy charge to the criminal charges Bankman-Fried is facing.
In 2021, the DOJ announced that Frederick Cushmore Jr. (an individual employed by Corsa Coal in various international sales positions) was criminally charged and plead guilty to a conspiracy charge to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in connection with a bribery scheme in Egypt. (See here for the prior post).
In 2022, the DOJ announced that Charles Hunter Hobson (an individual employed by Corsa Coal in a variety of roles) was also criminally charged in connection with the same core conduct. (See here for the prior post). The enforcement action against Hobson remains active with the next status conference scheduled for April 3rd.
Recently, the DOJ posted this “declination with disgorgement” letter to Corsa Coal’s counsel on its FCPA website.
