Friday Roundup
Scrutiny alerts and updates, quotable, ripple, and for the reading stack.
It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Scrutiny Alerts and Updates
Rio Tinto
Earlier this week, the Australia-based mining company with ADR shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange issued this release.
Cognizant Technology Solutions – An Interesting, Albeit Early, FCPA Case Study
As highlighted in this prior post, on September 30th Cognizant Technology Solutions disclosed that it voluntarily disclosed to the DOJ and SEC “certain payments relating to facilities in India [that] were made improperly and in possible violation of the FCPA and other applicable laws.”
Even though Cognizant’s FCPA scrutiny is a mere six weeks old, it presents an interesting FCPA case study as to the FCPA’s many “ripples.” (See here for the article “FCPA Ripples“). As stated in the article: “because of the many ripples of FCPA enforcement, it is important that FCPA enforcement be subjected to meaningful judicial scrutiny and that enforcement actions represent legitimate instances of provable FCPA violations, not merely settlements entered into for reasons of risk aversion.”
On this issue, it is interesting to note that Cognizant’s FCPA scrutiny relates to permits in connection with certain facilities in India and you can read all about actual legal authority concerning this type of FCPA enforcement theory in this article.
Friday Roundup
Scrutiny alerts and updates, ripples, difficult business conditions, resource alerts, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Scrutiny Alerts and Updates
Wal-Mart
Bloomberg reports:
“Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is butting heads with the U.S. government over how to wrap up a long-running foreign corruption investigation. Officials have proposed that the world’s biggest retailer pay at least $600 million to resolve probes by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission into whether it bribed government officials in markets from Mexico to India and China, according to three people familiar with the matter. The retailer has rebuffed the government’s request, two of them said.
Friday Roundup
Scrutiny alert, a potential increase FCPA statutory penalty amounts, Second Circuit appeal begins, SEC enforcement chief on whistleblowers, marketing the black hole, of note, and a ripple. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Scrutiny Update
VimpelCom was not the only company involved in the Uzbek telecommunications bribery scheme. As highlighted in this prior post, Swedish telecom company (a company with ADRs registered with the SEC) and Russia-based Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (a company with shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange) have also been scrutiny.
Recently, Telia issued this release:
FCPA Ripple – Court Orders U.S. Navy To Terminate Contract Award to Louis Berger Entity
Looking for further proof that settlement amounts in an actual Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action are often only a relatively minor component of the overall financial consequences that can result from FCPA scrutiny or enforcement in this new era? (See here for the article Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Ripples).
Check out this recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims involving a successful post-award bid protest based on Louis Berger Aircraft Services Inc.’s failure to inform the Navy of its parent company’s involvement in corruption and fraud (see here for the prior post highlighting the July 2015 FCPA enforcement action against Louis Berger Int’l Inc.).
FCPA practitioners with clients involved in federal government contracting and subject to FCPA scrutiny would be wise to read the decision.
Not only is the opinion instructive on the FCPA’s many ripples, it also contains some candid admissions by U.S. government attorneys that FCPA enforcement actions are carefully crafted in the hopes of avoiding negative collateral consequences as well as evidence that the”right hand” of the government does not always know what the “left hand” of the government is doing,