Sentenced, scrutiny alert, and payment dispute. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Sentenced
Previous posts here and here highlighted the FCPA and related enforcement action against Frank Chatburn (a dual United States and Ecuadorian citizen) who was criminally charged (and ultimately plead guilty) for conspiring with others for making corrupt payments to PetroEcuador officials in order to obtain and retain contracts for Galileo (described as an Ecuadorian company that provided services in the oil and gas industry) from PetroEcuador.
As highlighted here, Chatburn was recently sentenced to 3.5 years in federal prison.
Scrutiny Alert
Reuters reports:
“Brazilian authorities … targeted Maersk and other companies for allegedly paying bribes to get an edge in securing shipping contracts with state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, in the latest phase of a sprawling graft probe. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, was involved in allegedly paying $3.4 million in bribes related to 11 shipping contracts with Petrobras, worth 592 million reais ($141.07 million). Maersk confirmed in a statement that its offices in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo were searched by Brazilian police, adding that it would co-operate fully with authorities. Petrobras said it continues to work with authorities, adding the company itself is a victim of corruption.”
Payment Dispute
As discussed in this Law360 article, Steven Schwartz (a former executive at Cognizant Technology Solutions who was criminally and civilly charged with FCPA violations in February 2018 – see here) recently filed a civil lawsuit against Cognizant claiming that the company is improperly withholding lawyer fees in connection with his defense.
