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Seventh Circuit: “The United Nations Convention Against Corruption Is Not Binding Federal Law”

By on March 24, 2022 in Biomet, FCPA Related Charges, United Nations Convention Against Corruption, Zimmer Holdings
Judicial Decision

It has not been a good month for Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS – the Mexican Social Security Institute) in U.S. appellate courts.

This recent post discussed a Sixth Circuit decision affirming the dismissal of a civil lawsuit on forum non conveniens grounds filed by IMSS against Stryker in the aftermath of the company’s FCPA enforcement action which involved, among other conduct, alleged bribery of IMSS officials.

As highlighted in this prior post, in 2017 Biomet became an FCPA repeat offender as the DOJ and SEC brought a parallel FCPA enforcement action in which the company agreed to an overall settlement amount of $30.4 million. A portion of the enforcement action involved conduct in Mexico and in the words of the DOJ: “Biomet’s subsidiaries used a customs broker whose five subagents bribed Mexican customs officials to allow Biomet to export mislabeled products to Mexico.” In the words of the SEC: “Biomet subsidiary 3i Mexico engaged Mexican Customs Broker and certain subagents to pay bribes to Mexican customs officials for the purpose of circumventing Mexican customs laws regarding importing unregistered and improperly labeled products into Mexico.”

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Friday Roundup

By on May 24, 2019 in Arbitration Issues, Biomet, Compliance, Detelina Subeva, DOJ Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, Major League Baseball, Vantage Drilling, Whistleblowers, Zimmer Holdings
Roundup

Whistleblower award, interesting observations, scrutiny update, why in the world, you lose some and you win some, and guilty plea. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.

Whistleblower Award

According to this report, “a former Brazilian surgeon who blew the whistle on a medical device company that allegedly bribed doctors to win business will get a $4.5 million award from U.S. regulators, according to his lawyers. The surgeon will get the money for playing a crucial role in helping the SEC uncover a bribery scandal at Biomet Inc. that spanned the globe. (See here for the SEC release).

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Defamation Claim Advances By Former Biomet Argentina Employee Against Zimmer Biomet Holdings

By on May 2, 2017 in Alejandro Yeatts, Defamation, Related Civil Litigation, Zimmer Holdings
zimmer

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions rarely tell the whole story about the facts and circumstances relevant to the underlying action. Thus, it is nice (from the perspective of getting a more complete alleged picture including specific names relevant to an FCPA enforcement action) when civil litigation is filed in connection with an FCPA enforcement action.

Such is the case regarding a recent civil action filed by Alejandro Yeatts, who from 2005 to September 2015 was employed by Biomet Argentina, in which he alleges various tort claims against Zimmer Biomet Holdings. Although the court recently dismissed Yeatts’s intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress claims, the court denied Zimmer’s motion to dismiss Yeatts’s defamation claim meaning the claim will advance to the next stage in litigation.

This post summarizes Yeatts’s defamation claim and the court’s recent decision (Yeatts v. Zimmer Biomet Holdings, 2017 WL 1375117 (N.D. Ind., Apr. 17, 2017).

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Issues To Consider From The Zimmer Biomet Enforcement Action

By on February 6, 2017 in Biomet, Disgorgement, Internal Controls, Repeat Offenders, Zimmer Holdings
Issues

This previous post went in-depth into the $30.4 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Zimmer Biomet announced on January 12th.

This post highlights additional issues to consider.

Repeat Offender

Biomet is not the first company to be a repeat FCPA criminal offender, just the latest. Other criminal examples include Aibel Group / Vetco entities and Marubeni (and there several other examples involving SEC civil violations such as Orthofix Int’l recently becoming a repeat FCPA offender). To learn more about these examples, see the article “Measuring the Impact of NPAs and DPAs on FCPA Enforcement.”

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Biomet Becomes An FCPA Repeat Offender

By on January 17, 2017 in 2017 Enforcement Actions, Biomet, Brazil, Distributor Issues, DOJ Enforcement Action, Mexico, Permits / Licenses / Customs / Tax, Repeat Offenders, SEC Enforcement Action, Successor Liability, Third Parties, Uncategorized, Zimmer Holdings
zimmer

For many years, the DOJ has advanced the policy position that DPAs and NPAs “have had a truly transformative effect on particular companies and, more generally, on corporate culture across the globe.” (See here for the prior post). Specifically in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act context, the DOJ has stated that “the companies against which DPAs and NPAs have been brought have often undergone dramatic changes.”  (See here for the prior post).

As highlighted here, in March 2012 Biomet resolved an FCPA enforcement action involving alleged conduct in Brazil, Argentina, and China by agreeing to pay approximately $22.8 million ($17.3 million via a DOJ deferred prosecution agreement, and $5.5 million via a settled SEC civil complaint).

Since then, FCPA Professor has chronicled (here, here and here) how Biomet’s DPA was extended, how the DOJ ultimately came to conclude that Biomet had breached its DPA based on subsequent improper conduct, and how an additional FCPA enforcement was expected.

Last week, the DOJ and SEC announced (here and here) the additional FCPA enforcement action against Zimmer Biomet Holdings (in 2015 Zimmer Holdings acquired Biomet) and Biomet. As highlighted below, a portion of the improper conduct involved the same distributor in Brazil that gave rise to the 2012 FCPA enforcement action.

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