SEC Brings First FCPA Individual Action Since 2020
Yesterday, the SEC announced a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Cyril Sebastien Dominique Cabanes (“Cabanes”) – a French citizen and resident of Singapore who was previously a member of the board of directors of Azure Power Global Limited (a Mauritius company with its principal place of business in India). During the time period relevant to the enforcement action, Azure was a publicly traded company with shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Cabanes enforcement action is the first SEC FCPA enforcement action against an individual since October 2020.
Potpourri
Ericsson
As highlighted in this prior post, in 2019 Ericsson (a Swedish telecom company with American Depositary Shares traded in the U.S.) resolved a $1.06 billion FCPA enforcement action concerning conduct in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Kuwait, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia.
As part of the resolution, Ericsson was required to engage an independent compliance monitor for a three-year period.
In late 2022, Ericsson announced “that it has agreed with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to extend the term of the Company’s Independent Compliance Monitor for one year, to June 2024.” (See here for the prior post).