“In the end, Garth Peterson, a rising star at Morgan Stanley in China, was undone by his pursuit of “guanxi.” So begins this 2009 Reuters article that details the rise and fall of Peterson, fired by Morgan Stanley in 2008, “amid suspicions” that he had violated the FCPA. According to the article, Morgan Stanley, voluntarily reported the case to U.S. authorities after a nine month internal investigation.
Yesterday the DOJ and SEC announced a joint enforcement against Peterson.
DOJ
In this release, the DOJ announced that Peterson, a former managing director for Morgan Stanley’s real estate business in China, pleaded guilty to a one count criminal information (unavailable at this point) for “conspiring to evade internal accounting controls that Morgan Stanley was required to maintain under the FCPA.”
The release states as follows.
“According to court documents, Morgan Stanley maintained a system of internal controls meant to ensure accountability for its assets and to prevent employees from offering, promising or paying anything of value to foreign government officials. Morgan Stanley’s internal policies, which were updated regularly to reflect regulatory developments and specific risks, prohibited bribery and addressed corruption risks associated with the giving of gifts, business entertainment, travel, lodging, meals, charitable contributions and employment. Morgan Stanley frequently trained its employees on its internal policies, the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws. Between 2002 and 2008, Morgan Stanley trained various groups of Asia-based personnel on anti-corruption policies 54 times. During the same period, Morgan Stanley trained Peterson on the FCPA seven times and reminded him to comply with the FCPA at least 35 times. Morgan Stanley’s compliance personnel regularly monitored transactions, randomly audited particular employees, transactions and business units, and tested to identify illicit payments. Moreover, Morgan Stanley conducted extensive due diligence on all new business partners and imposed stringent controls on payments made to business partners.”
“According to court documents, Peterson conspired with others to circumvent Morgan Stanley’s internal controls in order to transfer a multi-million dollar ownership interest in a Shanghai building to himself and a Chinese public official with whom he had a personal friendship. The corruption scheme began when Peterson encouraged Morgan Stanley to sell an interest in a Shanghai real-estate deal to Shanghai Yongye Enterprise (Group) Co. Ltd., a state-owned and state-controlled entity through which Shanghai’s Luwan District managed its own property and facilitated outside investment in the district. Peterson falsely represented to others within Morgan Stanley that Yongye was purchasing the real-estate interest, when in fact Peterson knew the interest would be conveyed to a shell company controlled by him, a Chinese public official associated with Yongye and a Canadian attorney. After Peterson and his co-conspirators falsely represented to Morgan Stanley that Yongye owned the shell company, Morgan Stanley sold the real-estate interest in 2006 to the shell company at a discount to the interest’s actual 2006 market value. As a result, the conspirators realized an immediate paper profit of more than $2.5 million. Even after the sale, Peterson and his co-conspirators continued to claim falsely that Yongye owned the shell company, which in reality they owned. In the years since Peterson and his co-conspirators gained control of the real-estate interest, they have periodically accepted equity distributions and the real-estate interest has appreciated in value.”
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer stated as follows. “Mr. Peterson admitted today that he actively sought to evade Morgan Stanley’s internal controls in an effort to enrich himself and a Chinese government official. As a managing director for Morgan Stanley, he had an obligation to adhere to the company’s internal controls; instead, he lied and cheated his way to personal profit. Because of his corrupt conduct, he now faces the prospect of prison time.”
Peterson is to be sentenced on July 17th.
As to Morgan Stanley, the release states as follows.
“After considering all the available facts and circumstances, including that Morgan Stanley constructed and maintained a system of internal controls, which provided reasonable assurances that its employees were not bribing government officials, the Department of Justice declined to bring any enforcement action against Morgan Stanley related to Peterson’s conduct. The company voluntarily disclosed this matter and has cooperated throughout the department’s investigation.”
Kudos to the DOJ. Would anything really change with an FCPA compliance defense – see here for “Revisiting a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Compliance Defense”?
SEC
In this complaint, the SEC alleged in summary as follows.
“From at least 2004 to 2007, Defendant Garth Peterson, while employed at Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. ‘s (“Morgan Stanley”) real estate investment and fund advisory business, secretly acquired millions of dollars worth of real estate investments from Morgan Stanley’s funds for himself, the former Chairman of Yongye Enterprise (Group) Co. (“Yongye”) -a Chinese state-owned entity with influence over the success of Morgan Stanley’s real estate business in Shanghai-and others. Peterson also arranged to have paid to himself and the former Chairman of Yongye (“the Chinese Official”) at least $1.8 million in what he misrepresented were finder’s fees Morgan Stanley’s funds owed to third parties. In exchange for offers and payments from Peterson, the Chinese Official helped Peterson and Morgan Stanley obtain business while personally benefitting from some of these same investments. This self-dealing and misappropriation by Peterson breached the fiduciary duties he and Morgan Stanley owed to their clients.”
Based on the above conduct, the SEC charged Peterson with violating the FCPA’s anti-bribery and internal controls provisions, as well as aiding and abetting violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act.
In this release, the SEC noted that Peterson agreed to a settlement of the SEC’s charges “in which he will be permanently barred from the securities industry, pay more than $250,000 in disgorgement, and relinquish his interest in the valuable Shanghai real estate (currently valued at approximately $3.4 million) that he secretly acquired through his misconduct.”
Robert Khuzami (Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement) stated as follows. “Peterson crossed the line not once, but twice. He secretly bribed a government official to illegally win business for his employer and enriched himself in violation of his fiduciary duty to Morgan Stanley’s clients. This case illustrates the SEC’s commitment to holding individuals accountable for FCPA violations, particularly employees who intentionally circumvent their company’s internal controls.”
Kara Novaco Brockmeyer (Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit) stated as follows. “As a rogue employee who took advantage of his firm and its investment advisory clients, Peterson orchestrated a scheme to illegally win business while lining his own pockets and those of an influential Chinese official.”
As to Yongye and the Chinese Official, the complaint states as follows.
“Yongye Enterprise (Group) Co. Ltd. was a large real estate development arm of the Luwan District Government in Shanghai, China. Since its inception in 1994, Yongye held leases for many prime areas in the Luwan District. Yongye’s business was to keep or take a small share in real estate joint ventures, including with Morgan Stanley and its funds, in exchange for helping its joint venture partner obtain the proper licensing from the local government. Yongye owned and developed residential and commercial real property, sold and brokered real estate to Morgan Stanley and its funds, and partnered with Morgan Stanley and its funds in various real estate investments.”
“The Chinese Official was the Chairman of Yongye at all pertinent times until his retirement in September 2006. As Chairman, he exercised control over Y ongye and had the authority to make investment decisions for it. Before Yongye, the Chinese Official worked for the Luwan District government. After his retirement in September 2006, the Chinese Official continued to work with Morgan Stanley as a private real estate developer and broker until approximately the time Peterson was terminated in 2008.”
The complaint contains an entire section titled “Morgan Stanley’s FCPA Compliance Program and Internal Controls” which states as follows.
“Morgan Stanley trained Peterson on the FCPA numerous times during his employment, as follows:
(1) Morgan Stanley trained Peterson on anti-corruption policies and the FCPA at least seven times between 2002 and 2008. In addition to other live and web-based training, Peterson participated in a teleconference training conducted by Morgan Stanley’s Global Head of Litigation and Global Head of Morgan Stanley’s Anti-Corruption Group in June 2006.
(2) Morgan Stanley distributed to Peterson written training materials specifically addressing the FCPA, which Peterson maintained in his office.
(3) A Morgan Stanley compliance officer specifically informed Peterson in 2004 that employees of Yongye, a Chinese state-owned entity, were government officials for purposes of the FCPA.
(4) Peterson received from Morgan Stanley at least thirty five FCPA-compliance reminders. These reminders included FCPA-specific distributions; circulations and reminders of Morgan Stanley’s Code of Conduct, which included policies that directly addressed the FCPA; various reminders concerning Morgan Stanley’s policies on gift-giving and entertainment; the circulation of Morgan Stanley’s Global Anti-Bribery Policy; guidance on the engagement of consultants; and policies addressing specific high-risk events, including the Beijing Olympics.
(5) Morgan Stanley required Peterson on multiple occasions to certify his compliance with the FCPA. These written certifications were maintained in Peterson’s permanent employment record.
Morgan Stanley required each of its employees, including Peterson, annually to certify adherence to Morgan Stanley’s Code of Conduct, which included a portion specifically addressing corruption risks and activities that would violate the FCPA. Morgan Stanley required its employees, including Peterson, annually to disclose their outside business interests. Morgan Stanley had policies to conduct due diligence on its foreign business partners, conducted due diligence on the Chinese Official and Yongye before initially conducting business with them, and generally imposed an approval process for payments made in the course of its real estate investments. Both were meant to ensure, among other things, that transactions were conducted in accordance with management’s authorization and to prevent improper payments, including the transfer of things of value to officials of foreign governments.”
