Top Menu

Navigation

Suspension And Debarment In The Aftermath Of An FCPA Enforcement Action

By on November 5, 2020 in Debarment, J&F Investimentos, Uncategorized
debarment

Previous posts here and here highlighted the recent net $155 million FCPA enforcement action against J&F Investimentos S.A. (a private investment holding company based in Brazil that owns approximately 250 companies primarily involved in the meat and agriculture business) and a related entity for allegedly bribing Brazilian officials.

In the aftermath of the enforcement action, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn and Vice Chair of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee responsible for funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture) recently sent this letter to the USDA Secretary requesting that it “initiate suspension and debarment proceedings against JBS USA, the U.S. subsidiary of the Brazilian-owned and controlled meatpacker JBS SA, and each of its companies, including but not limited to Pilgrim’s Pride.”

Continue Reading

Issues To Consider From The CDM Smith Enforcement Action

By on July 6, 2017 in CDM Smith, Debarment, DOJ FCPA “Pilot Program”, Gray Cloud, Parent – Subsidiary Issues, Voluntary Disclosure
Issues

This previous post highlighted the DOJ’s recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against CDM Smith Inc. Pursuant to a so-called “declination” with disgorgement, CDM Smith agreed to disgorge approximately $4 million based on DOJ findings “that CDM Smith, through its employees and agents, and those of its wholly owned subsidiary in India paid approximately $1.18 million in bribes to government officials in India in exchange for highway construction supervision and design contracts and a water project contract…”.

This post highlights additional issues to consider.

Continue Reading

The First-Ever National Action Plan On Responsible Business Conduct Is A Whole Lot Of Fluff

By on December 21, 2016 in Debarment, Double Standard, State Department
fluff

Recently the U.S. government released its “first-ever National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct.” (See here for the document, here for the State Department release and here for the White House release).

I don’t know the precise answer for what the expectation should be for the final deliverable of a government program launched approximately 2.5 years ago and issued in the final days of a lame duck administration. Whatever that expectation level should be, the National Action Plan is a whole lot of fluff with some overblown rhetoric and uncomfortable truths mixed in that misses the big picture.

Continue Reading

Issues To Consider From The Embraer Enforcement Action

By on October 27, 2016 in Compliance, Debarment, Embraer, Gray Cloud, Saudi Aramco, Third Parties
Issues

This previous post went in-depth into the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Embraer.

This post continues the analysis by highlighting additional issues to consider from the enforcement action.

Timeline

In previous SEC filings Embraer stated: “In September, 2010, we received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and associated inquiries from the U.S. Department of Justice, or DOJ, concerning possible non-compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, or FCPA, in relation to certain aircraft sales outside of Brazil.”

Thus from start to finish Embraer’s FCPA scrutiny lasted over six years.

Continue Reading

FCPA Ripple – Court Orders U.S. Navy To Terminate Contract Award to Louis Berger Entity

By on March 22, 2016 in Collateral Effects, Debarment, Louis Berger International
Ripple

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,

Continue Reading

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes