Vantage Drilling Announces Closure Of DOJ Investigation, Just Don’t Call It A “Declination”
I hope the usual suspects don’t muddy up the conversation again by calling this one a “declination.” (See here for the recent post).
As highlighted in this August 2015 post, Houston-based Vantage Drilling disclosed:
“In July 2015, we became aware of media reports that our agent utilized in the contracting of the Titanium Explorer drillship has entered into a plea arrangement with the Brazilian authorities in connection with the agent’s role in obtaining bribes on behalf of former Petrobras executives. We have since confirmed that our agent, who has represented multiple international companies in their contracts with Petrobras, has entered into such discussions and provided evidence to the Brazilian authorities of an alleged bribery scheme between the former Petrobras executives and a former director of Vantage.
Once Again, Rebooting A Long-Standing FCPA Proposal, This Time In The Aftermath Of A Recent Disclosure By MTS Systems
This post two weeks ago addressed the same topic as today’s post and quite frankly I am growing tired of writing this same general post for what seems like the umpteenth time. However, until things change I will keep writing it which means I will probably keep writing this same general post long into the future.
The proposal is this: when a company voluntarily discloses an FCPA internal investigation to the DOJ and/or SEC and when one or both of the enforcement agencies do not bring an enforcement action, have the “declining” enforcement agency publicly state, in a thorough and transparent manner, the facts the company disclosed and why the “declining” agency did not bring an enforcement action based on those facts.
As highlighted in this March 2012 post, Minnesota-based MTS Systems Corp., a global supplier of test systems and industrial position sensors, disclosed:
The FCPA’s Conversational Waters Are Muddy
There are some issues in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act space that really should be simple.
For instance, the question “what is an FCPA enforcement action” really should be simple.
However, as highlighted in the article “A Common Language to Remedy Distorted FCPA Enforcement Statistics” various FCPA Inc. participants have adopted (for self-interested reasons perhaps) creative and haphazard counting methods regarding “what is an FCPA enforcement action.” The end result is a muddy conversation about many FCPA enforcement issues and the creative and haphazard counting methods infect the quality and reliability of FCPA enforcement and related statistics of interest to many in the legal and business communities.
Rebooting A Long-Standing FCPA Proposal In The Aftermath Of Newmont Mining’s Recent Disclosure
In the aftermath of a recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act disclosure by Newmont Mining, this post reboots a proposal first suggested in August 2010 (see here), further proposed in August 2016 (see here), and proposed again in March 2017 (see here).
The proposal is this: when a company voluntarily discloses an FCPA internal investigation to the DOJ and/or SEC and when one or both of the enforcement agencies do not bring an enforcement action, have the “declining” enforcement agency publicly state, in a thorough and transparent manner, the facts the company disclosed and why the “declining” agency did not bring an enforcement action based on those facts.
The First Corporate FCPA Enforcement Action In The Trump Era Is A $11.2 Million Declination With Disgorgement And Forfeiture Against Linde For Nearly Decade-Old Conduct Of An Acquired Entity
Last Friday the DOJ quietly updated its FCPA Pilot Program “declinations” page to include a June 16th letter from the Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office (D.N.J.) to counsel for Linde North America Inc. and Linde Gas North America LLC.
The letter states that “consistent with the FCPA Pilot Program announced on April 5, 2016, the [DOJ is closing its] investigation of [Linde] and certain of their subsidiaries and affiliates concerning violations of the FCPA.”
Pursuant to the letter agreement, Linde agreed to disgorge or forfeit approximately $11.2 million. The Linde enforcement action is the first corporate FCPA enforcement action in the Trump era and is similar to the previous “declinations with disgorgement” enforcement actions released by the Obama DOJ in September 2016. (See here for a prior post).