Scrutiny alerts and updates, charged, it needs to stop, and my answer. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Scrutiny Alerts and Updates
Plantronics/Polycom
In March 2018, Plantronics (an audio communications company) announced that it entered into a definitive agreement by which it would acquire Polycom in a cash and stock transaction valued at $2.0 billion. The transaction closed in early July and recently Plantronics disclosed:
The above headline may be a bit confusing, but it is instructive as to the basic point that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has always been a law much broader than its name suggests because of its books and records and internal controls provisions.
These provisions, applicable to issuers, are among the most generic substantive legal provisions one can find and the fact is most FCPA enforcement actions (using that term in the most technical sense) do not even involve foreign bribery.
Case in point is yesterday’s SEC enforcement action finding that FMC Technologies violated the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls provisions when it overstated profits in one of its business segments.
The name of this company might ring a bell because earlier this year FMC Technologies disclosed FCPA scrutiny of the more traditional type.
A plethora of scrutiny alerts and updates and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday Roundup.
Scrutiny Alerts and Updates
Unaoil Related
The disclosures keep coming from companies mentioned in the recent Unaoil media reports (see here for the prior post).
FMC Technologies, an oil and gas services company, recently disclosed:
“On March 28, 2016 we received an inquiry from the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) related to the DOJ’s investigation of whether certain services Unaoil S.A.M. provided to its clients, including FMC Technologies, violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. We are cooperating with the DOJ’s inquiry and are conducting our own internal investigation.”
KBR, a company which resolved an FCPA enforcement action in 2009 concerning conduct in Nigeria , recently disclosed:
