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A Focus On Vietnam

By on September 12, 2023 in Root Causes, Vietnam
Vietnam

President Biden recently traveled to Vietnam.

One purpose of the visit was to “elevate [the U.S.] relationship to Vietnam’s highest designation for foreign partners – a comprehensive strategic partnership – from its lowest.” (See here for the Wall Street Journal article).

According to the article, “while the new status is symbolic, it is aimed at giving American companies, including defense contractors, reassurance that the recent warming relations will endure, and promote Vietnam as a dependable location for U.S. manufacturing operations abroad.”

This is the latest example (see here for a similar recent post) of the U.S. government promoting doing business in a country with high levels of perceived corruption and a country that has been the focus of numerous FCPA enforcement actions.

Set forth below are the general details of fourteen FCPA enforcement actions (all since 2008) which have involved (in whole or in part) conduct in Vietnam.

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South Korea’s KT Corp. Resolves $6.3 Million FCPA Enforcement Action

By on February 18, 2022 in 2022 Enforcement Action, Charitable Contributions, Foreign Issuers, Internal Controls, KT Corp., KT Corporation, Political Contributions, SEC Enforcement Action, South Korea, Telecommunications Industry, Vietnam
KT

KT Corporation is a Seoul, South Korea based telecommunications company with American Depositary Shares registered with the SEC and traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Yesterday, the SEC announced that the company agreed to pay $6.3 million “to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by providing improper payments for the benefit of government officials in Korea and Vietnam.”

In summary fashion, this administrative order finds:

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

By 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
Novartis

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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Swedish Company Bribes Foreign Officials, U.S. Collects $1.06 Billion In Record-Setting FCPA Enforcement Action

By on December 9, 2019 in 2019 Enforcement Actions, China, Djibouti, DOJ Enforcement Action, Ericsson, Foreign Issuers, Gaining Access to Confidential Documents, Indonesia, SEC Enforcement Action, Telecommunications Industry, Third Parties, Travel and Entertainment, Vietnam
ericsson

Late last Friday, the DOJ and SEC announced (here and here) a record-setting Foreign Corrupt Practices Act action Swedish telecom company Ericsson (a company with American Depositary Shares traded in the U.S.). The $1.06 billion settlement amount is the largest net FCPA settlement amount in history surpassing the $850 million FCPA enforcement action against Russian telecom company MTS in March 2019 (see here).

The enforcement action concerned conduct in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Kuwait, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia.

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DOJ Quietly Releases Another “Declination With Disgorgement” – This One $4 Million Regarding CDM Smith Inc.

By on June 30, 2017 in 2017 Enforcement Actions, CDM Smith, DOJ Enforcement Action, DOJ FCPA “Pilot Program”, Engineering and Construction Industry, Engineering Industry, India, Third Parties, Vietnam, World Bank
cdmsmith

Those who were predicting that FCPA enforcement would wane in a Trump administration were encouraged to take a deep breath. (See here for the prior post). Among other things, it was noted that “if you believe that FCPA enforcement will decline in a Trump administration then you presumably must think that the DOJ and the SEC will start refusing to “process” corporate voluntary disclosures” (the single largest source of corporate FCPA enforcement actions).

Here is a fact to contemplate. The number of DOJ corporate FCPA enforcement actions in the first five months of the Trump administration (2 – both originating from corporate voluntary disclosures) equals the number of DOJ corporate FCPA enforcement actions in 2015 (2).

Yesterday, the DOJ once again quietly updated its FCPA Pilot Program “declinations” page to release this June 21st letter agreement addressed to Nathaniel Edmonds (Paul Hastings) counsel for CDM Smith Inc. (“CDM Smith”), a privately held engineering and construction firm incorporated and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

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