Acting Assistant AG Rabbitt Talks White-Collar Crime
Recently Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Rabbitt delivered this virtual speech to a White Collar Crime workshop.
As excerpted below, Rabbitt touched upon a variety of white-collar crime topics including individual accountability, DOJ policy, and data analytics.
Regarding white-collar crime generally, Rabbitt stated:
Observations From The OECD’s Phase 4 U.S. Review Report
Recently, the OECD released its Phase 4 review of the United State’s implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention … in effect a review of the FCPA, its enforcement, and related issues.
The first question one needs to ask themselves is whether they care what “experts from Argentina and the United Kingdom” (as stated by the OECD “the report and its recommendations reflect the findings of experts from Argentina and the United Kingdom”) think about the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, U.S. law enforcement (DOJ and SEC) policies and practices, and U.S. jurisprudence.
In any event, the Phase 4 Report “explores issues such as detection, enforcement, corporate liability, and international cooperation, as well as covering unresolved issues from prior reports.” (See here for a 2010 post summarizing the OECD’s Phase 3 review).
Brazilian Company Bribes Brazilian Officials, U.S. Collects Net $155 Million In FCPA Enforcement Action
This recent post posed the question of whether “foreign” in the FCPA’s “foreign official” element means as it relates to the U.S. or as it relates to the specific company at issue. The post highlighted how in recent years the FCPA enforcement agencies have adopted the former interpretation in bringing FCPA enforcement actions against foreign companies for allegedly bribing their own “domestic” officials – but “foreign” as it relates to the U.S.
In yet another example, the DOJ and SEC announced yesterday (see here and here) that J&F Investimentos S.A. (J&F 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 resolved a net $155 million FCPA enforcement action for allegedly bribing Brazilian officials.
The enforcement action involved a: (i) DOJ component against J&F resolved through a plea agreement in which the company paid net $128.2 million; and (ii) an SEC component against J&F, a related entity, and two individuals in which the related entity paid approximately $26.8 million and the two individuals each paid a $550,000 civil penalty.
Individual Enforcement Actions In Connection With Sargeant Marine Matter Span Several Years
[Just when you think 2020 can’t get any more strange, there were no SEC FCPA enforcement actions during the final days of September. Why is this strange? Because as highlighted in this prior post, approximately 15% of SEC FCPA enforcement actions in recent years have occurred during the last week of September. This was the first year since 2014 that there was not an SEC FCPA enforcement action in the final days prior to the SEC’s fiscal year ending on September 30th. COVID-19 related? Perhaps, but through three quarters thus far in 2020 FCPA enforcement has been generally consistent with prior years numbers].
Prior posts here and here highlighted the DOJ’s recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Sargeant Marine (SMI) in connection with bribery schemes in Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
This post highlights the related individual actions against seven individuals (five individuals for FCPA offenses and two alleged foreign officials for money laundering). What is interesting is that there were no individual charges in connection with the Ecuador conduct alleged in the SMI enforcement action and that the individual action began in September 2017 – a full three years prior to the SMI enforcement action.
DOJ Announces Indictment Of Oil Trader In Connection With Alleged Ecuador Bribery Scheme
Yesterday, the DOJ announced that Javier Aguilar (described as a trader at the U.S. subsidiary of a multinational oil distributor and trading company – “Trading Company) was criminally charged for “his alleged participation in a five-year international bribery and money laundering scheme involving corrupt payments to Ecuadorian officials.” According to this report, Aguilar’s former employer is Vitol Inc. As highlighted in this previous post, Vitol has reportedly been under scrutiny.
Although not mentioned in the indictment, the DOJ releases references an “original complaint” and that the Ecuadorian officials included individuals associated with PetroEcuador (a business organization previously mentioned in FCPA enforcement actions – see here and here).