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Class certification granted to hedge fund investors
On September 14, a New York federal district court granted class certification to a group of shareholder investors suing an American hedge fund management firm and two of its senior executives on the grounds that the investors were misled about a government investigation into the company’s activities in Africa. In finding that the proposed class met all the requirements for certification, the court certified a class of investors that held some of the more than 100 million outstanding shares between February 2012 and August 2014, the time period in which the firm allegedly violated the Securities Exchange Act. Plaintiffs claim that the firm told investors it was not under any pending judicial or administrative proceeding that might have a material impact on the firm, when in fact it was under DOJ and SEC investigation over allegations that its employees were bribing government officials in Africa. The allegations against the firm were made public in 2014 media reports detailing government scrutiny into its dealings in Africa.
Click here for prior FCPA Scorecard’s coverage of this matter.
United Technologies settles FCPA charges with SEC
On September 12, the SEC announced that United Technologies Corporation (UTC) agreed to pay $13.9 million to settle FCPA charges related to payments made through a subsidiary in connection with the sales of elevator and airline equipment in Azerbaijan and China. According the SEC’s Order, from 2012 through 2014, the Connecticut-based company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Otis Elevator Company, made illicit payments to Azerbaijani officials to facilitate the sales of elevator equipment.
The Order also included other conduct that both the DOJ and SEC have focused on in recent years, including the use of agents and gifts and entertainment. For example, the Order detailed conduct by UTC and a joint venture partner from 2009 to 2013 in which an agent in China received improper commissions totaling $55 million in connection with the company’s attempt to win airline business in China. The Order also found that the company, from 2009 through 2015, improperly “provided trips and gifts to various foreign officials in China, Kuwait, South Korea, Pakistan, Thailand, and Indonesia” in order to obtain business. UTC consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the findings that it violated the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA.
DOJ secures additional guilty pleas in wide-ranging PDVSA case
On September 13, the DOJ announced two additional guilty pleas in its wide-ranging foreign bribery investigation into payments to officials of Venezuela’s state-owned energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). Juan Carlos Castillo Rincon (Castillo), a former manager of a Texas-based logistics and freight forwarding company, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA in connection with corruptly securing contracts, contract extensions, and favorable contract terms from PDVSA. Castillo pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas, as did Jose Orlando Camacho (Camacho), the PDVSA official who accepted the bribes, and whose guilty plea was also unsealed. As now revealed, in July 2017, Camacho pleaded guilty under seal to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Both Camacho and Castillo are scheduled to be sentenced in February 2019. Prior Scorecard coverage of the PDVSA matter can be viewed here.
With these guilty pleas, DOJ has now brought charges against 18 individuals as part of its investigation into bribery at PDVSA. Fourteen individuals have pleaded guilty. Due to the limits inherent in the FCPA, the DOJ’s charges against the corrupt foreign officials such as Camacho (i.e., PDVSA employees) have been based on money laundering and not FCPA (see Prior FCPA Scorecard Coverage here and here) whereas the charges against the U.S.-based individuals who made and/or directed the corrupt payments generally have included FCPA violations (see Prior FCPA Scorecard Coverage here).
Ensco receives double declination in FCPA investigation
On September 4, Ensco PLC, a London-based offshore drilling company, announced in its Form 8-K filing that the DOJ and the SEC will not take action against the company, ending their investigations into alleged corruption related to a drilling services agreement between Pride International LLC (“Pride”), an acquired subsidiary, and Petrobras, the Brazilian state-owned oil company. According to the filing, the SEC letter stated that the agency “did not intend to recommend any enforcement action” related to the alleged irregularities. The DOJ letter acknowledged Ensco’s full cooperation in the investigation.
Barbadian insurance company receives first declination with disgorgement under FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy
On August 23, the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL) received the first declination with disgorgement from the DOJ under the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, which was made effective in November 2017. The conduct at issue involved payments made by ICBL to a Barbadian official in exchange for insurance contracts. The DOJ stated that the official, who is a U.S. legal permanent resident, laundered the payments through a New York-based company owned by a friend of the official. The declination was offered in consideration of numerous factors, including ICBL’s timely and voluntary disclosure of the conduct, its thorough internal investigation and cooperation with the DOJ’s investigation, its agreement to disgorge $93,900 in profits, and its efforts to enhance compliance and to remediate the matter by terminating all involved in the misconduct.
SEC issues administrative order against investment manager Legg Mason
On August 27, the SEC issued an administrative order settling allegations against Maryland-based investment manager Legg Mason which remained outstanding after the company’s June 4 NPA with the DOJ. The June 4 NPA resolved claims of FCPA violations in Libya and included a criminal penalty of $32.6 million and disgorgement of $31.6 million [see prior FCPA Scorecard coverage here]. The SEC order stated that Legg Mason’s actions were in violation of the internal accounting controls provision of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC settlement did not include a separate penalty beyond the disgorgement already agreed to in June, and pre-judgment interest.
Microsoft confirms U.S. investigations into Hungarian sales operations
On August 23, the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft is under investigation by the DOJ and the SEC regarding whether bribes and kickbacks were paid to Hungarian officials connected to sales of Microsoft products in Hungary. Microsoft stated in response to the reporting that it had terminated four employees as well as certain business partnerships in response to its own internal probe into potential wrongdoing in the 2013 to 2014 timeframe. In SEC filings over the last couple of years, Microsoft previously disclosed FCPA-related investigations and that it has been cooperating with related U.S. investigations, which have to date yielded no enforcement actions.
UK SFO charges former Güralp Systems employees with bribery conspiracy as DOJ declines to prosecute the company for FCPA violations
On August 17, the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that it was charging two former employees of Reading-based engineering company Güralp Systems Ltd. with “conspiracy to make corrupt payments.” The SFO alleged that the founder and former Managing Director of the company, Cansun Güralp and Andrew Bell, respectively, had “conspired to corruptly make payments to a public official and employee of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM).” The conduct allegedly occurred over a period of 13 years, from April 2002 to September 2015.
A few days later, on August 20, the DOJ published a letter informing Güralp Systems that it was declining to prosecute the company for potential FCPA and money laundering violations related to payments it had made to Heon-Cheol Chi, a former director of KIGAM. In October 2017, Chi was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison on a U.S. money laundering charge related to the bribery scheme. The DOJ’s letter stated that it was declining to prosecute because, among other reasons, the company voluntarily disclosed the misconduct, provided cooperation that assisted with the prosecution of Chi, undertook “significant remedial efforts,” and “committed to accepting responsibility” for its conduct in the parallel SFO investigation.
Colombia’s former anti-corruption chief pleads guilty to money laundering conspiracy related to foreign bribes
On August 14, the DOJ announced that Colombia’s former National Director of Anti-Corruption, Luis Gustavo Moreno Rivera, pleaded guilty to “participat[ing] in a conspiracy to launder money with the intent to promote foreign bribery.” A Colombian attorney, Leonardo Luis Pinilla Gomez, also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy. According to the press release, the two men admitted that they “attempted to entice a bribe” from a Colombian politician who was facing a corruption investigation by Moreno’s office by promising to provide statements made by cooperating witnesses in exchange for $34,500. Working undercover for the DEA, the politician paid the two men a $10,000 deposit of the bribe money during a June 2017 meeting in Miami. At that meeting, the two men were also recorded promising to obstruct the investigation in exchange for an additional $132,000 bribe. Cash from the deposit was found on Moreno when he boarded his flight back to Colombia. The two men were arrested in Colombia and extradited to the U.S. in May 2018. Sentencing is scheduled for November 19, 2018.
Former Malaysia Prime Minister charged with money laundering
On August 8, Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges filed against him in Malaysia in connection with the ongoing investigation of state fund 1MDB. Razak had previously pleaded not guilty to three charges of criminal breach of trust and one charge of abuse of power. The money laundering charges relate to approximately $10 million that was allegedly deposited into the former Prime Minister’s personal bank account. That is a small portion of the total funds under investigation as misappropriated from the state fund.
The day before, a $250 million super yacht was returned to Malaysia after it was previously seized in Indonesia following claims by the U.S. Department of Justice that is was purchased with funds misappropriated from 1MDB. Back in July 2016, DOJ filed civil forfeiture complaints seeking recovery of more than $1 billion in assets associated with the alleged “international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from [1MDB].” In June 2017, DOJ filed additional civil forfeiture complaints to recover another $540 million in assets. The investigation into assets linked to the state fund 1MDB continues with DOJ alleging that more than $3.5 billion in total funds were misappropriated from 1MDB from 2009 through 2015.