Brazilian Airline Bribes Brazilian Officials – U.S. Collects Net $38.1 Million In FCPA Enforcement Action
Yesterday, the DOJ and SEC (see here and here) announced a parallel Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.a. (GOL) – an airline headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil with shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
The DOJ component involved a criminal information against GOL charging conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery and books and records provisions resolved through a deferred prosecution agreement in which the company agreed to pay net $15.3 million. The SEC component involved an administrative order against GOL finding violations of the FCPA’s anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions pursuant to which the company is expected to pay net $22.8 million.
The Gap In SEC Individual FCPA Enforcement Actions Is Approaching Two Years
One reason to take FCPA enforcement agency rhetoric with a grain of salt is because it is warranted.
For instance, the FCPA enforcement agencies often talk about the importance of x and how they are committed to x, but in reality rarely do x.
Case in point is SEC individual FCPA enforcement actions.
For many years, SEC enforcement officials have talked about the importance of individual FCPA enforcement actions and set forth below are representative quotes from over the years.
The Latest Reminder That The FCPA Has Always Been A Law Much Broader Than Its Name Suggests
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has always been a law much broader than its name suggests. Sure, the FCPA contains anti-bribery provisions which concern foreign bribery. Sure, the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls provisions can be implicated in foreign bribery schemes.
However, the fact remains that most FCPA enforcement actions (that is enforcement actions that charge or find violations of the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls provisions) have nothing to do with foreign bribery and these provisions are among the most generic legal provisions one can possibly find.
These so-called non-FCPA FCPA enforcement actions often present a perplexing issue. That is, the same legal violation is generally enforced by the SEC in different ways.
SEC Obtains $550,092 Default Judgement Against Li
In November 2019, the DOJ announced that Yanliang Li (a citizen of China and former Managing Director of a Chinese division of Herbalife) and Hongwei Yang (a citizen of China and former head the External Affairs Department of a Chinese division of Herbalife) were criminally charged “for their roles in a scheme to violate the anti-bribery and the internal controls provisions of the FCPA.” Li was charged with one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA, one count of perjury and one count of destruction of records in a federal investigation. Yang was charged with conspiracy to violate the FCPA.
In addition, the SEC charged Li with violating the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions and aiding and abetting books and records and internal controls violations.
Recently, Judge J. Paul Oetken (S.D.N.Y.) granted the SEC’s motion for a $550,092 default judgment against Li.
The FCPA Repeat Offender Club Welcomes Tenaris
In 2011, Tenaris S.A. (a company headquartered in Luxembourg with American Depository Receipts listed on the New York Stock Exchange) resolved an approximate $9 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action regarding conduct in Uzbekistan (see here for the prior post).
For several years, Tenaris has been under scrutiny for its relationship with Petrobras in Brazil and in October 2016 the company “voluntarily notified” the SEC and DOJ. (See here).
Yesterday, the FCPA Repeat Offender Club welcomed Tenaris to its growing membership as the SEC announced an approximate $78.1 million enforcement action against the company.