Scrutiny updates, more press, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Scrutiny Updates
Glencore
As highlighted in this prior post, in March the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an enforcement advisory concerning companies and individuals “that timely and voluntarily disclose to the Division violations of the Commodity Exchange Act involving foreign corrupt practices, where the voluntary disclosure is followed by full cooperation and appropriate remediation.”
Conventional wisdom was that this advisory just did not fall out of the sky, but was a reaction to something. In my own mind, that something was Glencore’s FCPA scrutiny which the company disclosed in July 2018 (see here).
Yesterday, Glencore announced:
“Glencore has been informed by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) that the CFTC is investigating whether Glencore and its subsidiaries may have violated certain provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and/or CFTC Regulations through corrupt practices in connection with commodities. Glencore understands that the CFTC’s investigations are at an early stage and have a similar scope in terms of subject matter as the current ongoing investigation by the US Department of Justice (“DOJ”). Glencore will cooperate with the CFTC. Glencore’s response will be managed by its Investigations Committee, which was set up in July 2018 to oversee Glencore’s response to the investigation by the DOJ.”
Goldman Sachs
As highlighted in this prior post, in November 2018 the DOJ announced an FCPA and related enforcement action against individuals associated with Goldman Sachs in connection with the 1MDB fund (see here). This prior post asked: what does this mean for Goldman Sachs.
According to the Financial Times,
“[DOJ] staff have recommended that a settlement with Goldman Sachs over its role in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal should include a guilty plea at the parent company level, according to people familiar with the matter. Any such plea would be the toughest penalty the Department of Justice could bring against Goldman, which has long insisted that any misconduct was due to rogue bankers in its Asian operations. The internal recommendation by career prosecutors investigating the bank is now being considered by senior officials at the justice department, the people said. Any final settlement with Goldman could be less onerous.”
More Press
As highlighted here, Frédéric Pierucci (a French national and former Alstom executive who plead guilty to FCPA offenses in connection with a bribery scheme in Indonesia) continues to generate substantial press based on his belief that he was a “pawn” in “larger battles with global economic and political ramifications” and somehow a “hostage in the greatest campaign of economic destabilisation.”
For whatever it is worth, I find many of Pierucci’s claims factually inaccurate and/or not convincing. (See here for the FCPA Flash podcast with Pierucci).
Reading Stack
Miller & Chevalier’s FCPA Spring Review 2019 is here.
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