The FCPA Blog recently published this post titled “These are the Biggest FCPA Cases for Each of the Past Ten Years.”
Like other information on the FCPA Blog, the post contains false and misleading information.
The FCPA Blog post highlights “settlement amounts per data from FCPA Blog+” [a paid service of the entity that publishes the FCPA Blog] and the settlement amounts include “all criminal and civil penalties imposed on the highest-level entity and all related entities named in the enforcement action documents, as well as special assessments, forfeiture, disgorgement, and prejudgment interest, without regard to where the DOJ and / or SEC said the money would or could be paid.”
However, the dictionary (and practical) definition of “imposed” means to establish or bring about by force and it is quite clear (very simply clear from reading FCPA resolution documents) that many of the settlement amounts highlighted by the FCPA Blog were never actually “imposed” by the DOJ/SEC (the only law enforcement agencies that enforce the FCPA) on the companies listed.
If the FCPA Blog wants to call these global settlement amounts or more accurately global settlement amounts that law enforcement agencies could theoretically have imposed (in their own estimation) fine, do that.
But don’t call these settlement amounts in “FCPA cases” or “FCPA resolutions” because they simply aren’t.
As highlighted in the below chart, this is no trivial matter.
The difference between the FCPA Blog’s settlement amount assertions and actual FCPA settlement amounts is $4.3 billion difference over just a ten year period.
| FCPA Blog Assertion | Actual FCPA Settlement Amount
|
|
| 2022 | Glencore – $700 million | Glencore – $443 million |
| 2021 | Deutsche Bank – $123 million | Deutsche Bank – $123 million |
| 2020 | Goldman Sachs – $3.3 billion | Goldman Sachs – $1.66 billion |
| 2019 | Ericsson – $1.06 billion | Ericsson – $1.06 billion |
| 2018 | Petrobras – $1.78 billion | Societe General – $293 million |
| 2017 | Telia – $1.01 billion | Telia – $483 million |
| 2016 | Vimpelcom – $795 million | Vimpelcom – $398 million |
| 2015 | BHP Billiton – $25 million | BHP Billiton – $25 million |
| 2014 | Alstom – $772 million | Alstom – $772 million |
| 2013 | Total – $398 million | Total – $398 million |
