A Fishy Situation
An interesting civil action was recently filed in federal court in California by Red Chamber Co. (a world leader in the fishing industry and one of the largest global suppliers of shrimp) against Grupo Profand S.L. (a multinational company headquartered in Spain engaged in the fishing, processing, and commercialization of seafood products).
The complaint begins:
“This case is about economic espionage, corporate subterfuge, and government corruption in Argentina that has resulted and will continue to result in a sever domestic injury suffered in California to one of the largest and most respected family-owned businesses in the United States.”
California Attorney General – FCPA “Violations Are Actionable Under California’s Unfair Competition Law”
On February 10th, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security.”
Conduct in violation of the FCPA or involving the same core facts may also be actionable under other laws. (See here for the article FCPA Ripples).
Recently, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued this Legal Advisory titled “Alert to Businesses on Violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”
In pertinent part, the Advisory states:
An Interesting FCPA Related Issue
Some interesting Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related issues are tucked away on some court docket just waiting for someone to notice.
This post concerns such a story.
As highlighted in this prior post, in 2021 Frederick Cushmore Jr. (a former executive of Pennsylvania-based coal mining company Corsa Coal Corp.) was criminally charged and pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in connection with a bribery scheme in Egypt involving Al Nasr Company for Coke and Chemicals (“Al Nasr” or “NCCC” – an alleged Egyptian state-owned and state-controlled entity and a subsidiary of Metallurgical Industries Holding Company, which was owned and controlled by the Egyptian government).
Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of FCPA Related Securities Fraud Action Against Ericsson
This prior post covered the 2019 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Ericsson. The enforcement action concerned conduct in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Kuwait, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia and included a DOJ and SEC component. The DOJ matter involved a one count criminal information against Ericsson subsidiary Ericsson Egypt Ltd. charging conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions resolved through a plea agreement and a criminal information against Ericsson charging conspiracies to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions resolved through a deferred prosecution agreement. The DOJ matter was resolved through payment of a $520 million criminal penalty.
As highlighted in this prior post, in 2021 the DOJ suggested that Ericsson was in breach of its DPA obligations and in March 2023 the DOJ announced that “Ericsson has agreed to plead guilty and pay a criminal penalty of more than $206 million after breaching a 2019 Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA).” (See here for the prior post).
A Look At The CFTC Enforcement Action Against Freepoint
In recent years, a few Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions have also resulted in parallel matters against the same company by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for fraud and/or other manipulative conduct. (See here for the CFTC enforcement action against Vitol (based on the same general conduct alleged in the related FCPA enforcement action) and here for the CFTC enforcement action against Glencore (based on the same general conduct alleged in the related FCPA enforcement action).
The latest example occurred last week as the CFTC – in connection with an FCPA enforcement action against Freepoint Commodities – also brought an enforcement action against Freepoint.
In summary fashion, this CFTC order states: