Healthcare Providers As Foreign Officials Archives

Issues To Consider From The Stericycle Enforcement Action

By Mike Koehler on April 27, 2022 in Corrupt Intent, Country Exits, Facilitating Payments, Gray Cloud, Healthcare Providers As Foreign Officials, Internal Controls, Monitor, Obtain or Retain Business, Stericycle, When the Government Doesn’t Pay

This previous post highlighted the recent net $59 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Stericycle (an Illinois based medical waste disposal company) for conduct in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina.

Portions of the alleged conduct were egregious in that an executive of the company’s Latin America division orchestrated the bribery schemes and others associated with the company used “spreadsheets to track the bribe payments.”

Nevertheless, there are several legal and policy issues to consider from the enforcement action.

Timeline

As highlighted in this post, Stericycle disclosed its FCPA scrutiny in mid-2017.

Stericyle Resolves A Net $59 Million FCPA Enforcement Action

By Mike Koehler on April 21, 2022 in 2022 Enforcement Action, Argentina, Brazil, DOJ Enforcement Action, Foreign Official, Foreign Officials, Healthcare Companies, Healthcare Providers As Foreign Officials, Merger Issues, Mexico, SEC Enforcement Action, Stericycle, Third Parties, Uncategorized

Stericycle (an Illinois based medical waste disposal company) has been under FCPA scrutiny since mid-2017 (See here).

As highlighted here, approximately two months ago the company disclosed that it had “reached agreements in principle with the DOJ and SEC.” Specifically, Stericycle disclosed:

Yesterday, the DOJ and SEC announced (here and here) a parallel FCPA enforcement action against Stericycle.

The DOJ enforcement action involved this criminal information charging Stericycle with two counts of conspiracy to violate (1) the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions, and (2) the FCPA’s books and records provision. The criminal charges were resolved via this deferred prosecution agreement pursuant to which Stericycle agreed to pay a net $35 million criminal penalty.

The SEC enforcement action involved this administrative order finding that Stericycle violated the FCPA’s anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions pursuant to which the company agreed to pay a net approximate $24 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest.

Healthcare Professionals As “Foreign Officials”

By Mike Koehler on November 10, 2021 in Healthcare Providers As Foreign Officials

It is one of the more dubious FCPA enforcement theories there is. It has never been subjected to judicial scrutiny. It is a relatively new enforcement theory when one considers that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was enacted in 1977. It is an enforcement theory that has been used 33 times since introduced to the FCPA context in 2002 and thus is one of the more obvious reasons for the general increase in FCPA enforcement in the modern era.

It is the enforcement theory that employees (such as physicians, nurses, mid-wives, lab personnel, etc.) of certain foreign health care systems are “foreign officials” under the FCPA and thus occupy a status akin to a President or Prime Minister.

This post traces the origins and prominence of this theory, contains comments from the former DOJ FCPA enforcement attorney who came up with this theory, and highlights a data point relevant to the legitimacy and validity of this theory.

Speaker Fees

By Mike Koehler on November 18, 2020 in Compliance, Healthcare Providers As Foreign Officials, Medical Device Industry, Pharmaceutical Industry, Speaker Fees

Numerous Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions have involved the enforcement theory that various foreign health care professionals (HCP’s) are “foreign officials” and thus occupy a status similar to a President, Prime Minister, or other traditional bona fide government official.

Several of these enforcement actions have included allegations that HCP’s received speaker fees or honoraria from pharmaceutical or medical device companies.

For instance, the Sanofi enforcement action included allegations that an HCP was provided “with consulting, speaking, and clinical trial fees over a period of years despite the lack of documentation or other support to demonstrate the services had been provided.”

Novartis Joins The Repeat Offender Club – This Time Paying Approximately $347 Million To Resolve An FCPA Enforcement Action

By Mike Koehler on June 26, 2020 in 2020 Enforcement Action, Distributor Issues, DOJ Enforcement Action, Foreign Issuers, Greece, Healthcare Products, Healthcare Providers As Foreign Officials, Novartis, Pharmaceutical Industry, SEC Enforcement Action, South Korea, SOX Certification Issues, Third Parties, Travel and Entertainment, Vietnam

What happens when the Greek, Swiss, and South Korean subsidiaries of a Swiss company engage in improper conduct in Greece, Vietnam and South Korea? Why of course, approximately $345 million flows into the U.S. treasury.

Yesterday, Novartis joined the long and growing list of FCPA repeat offenders as the DOJ and SEC announced (see here and here) a combined approximate $347 million enforcement action. (As highlighted in this prior post, in 2016 Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis coughed up $25 million to resolve a SEC FCPA enforcement action focused on the conduct of its indirect Chinese subsidiaries).

Yesterday’s enforcement action included a DOJ component (in which the company agreed to pay approximately $234 million) and a SEC component (in which the company agreed to pay approximately $113 million).

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Issues To Consider From The Stericycle Enforcement Action

Stericyle Resolves A Net $59 Million FCPA Enforcement Action

Healthcare Professionals As “Foreign Officials”

Speaker Fees

Novartis Joins The Repeat Offender Club – This Time Paying Approximately $347 Million To Resolve An FCPA Enforcement Action

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