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  • SEC enters $78 million FCPA settlement with steel pipe manufacturer

    Securities

    On June 6, the SEC announced that a Luxembourg-based manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products agreed to pay over $78 million to settle the SEC’s claims that it violated the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA and the Exchange Act. The settlement is the latest in the long-running investigation regarding Brazilian state-owned and controlled energy company Petrobras, and resolves allegations that agents and employees of the company’s Brazilian subsidiary paid approximately $10.4 million in bribes between 2008 and 2013 to obtain over $1 billion in new contracts and to retain existing business from Petrobras. The bribes were allegedly funded on behalf of the company through entities associated with its controlling shareholder and paid to Brazilian government officials in exchange for using their influence to persuade Petrobras to forego an international tender process. The DOJ closed its parallel investigation without charges.

    This is the second time the Luxembourg-based company has resolved FCPA charges with U.S. authorities, following 2011 resolutions with both the DOJ and SEC related to a state-owned entity in Uzbekistan. The company had been the first ever to enter into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the SEC.

    The current resolution involves a $25 million monetary penalty, as well as $42.8 million in disgorgement and over $10 million in prejudgment interest. The company neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

    Securities Financial Crimes SEC Enforcement FCPA Securities Exchange Act Bribery Of Interest to Non-US Persons Petrobras

  • Brazilian Petrochemical Company Reaches $10 Million Settlement With Investors

    Financial Crimes

    On September 14, a Brazilian petrochemical company, agreed to pay its U.S. investors $10 million for concealing its role in a corruption scandal involving a Brazilian multinational corporation in the petroleum industry. The settlement resolves a 2015 lawsuit brought by U.S. investors against the petrochemical company, which alleged the company had misled investors into believing its operations were legitimate. The settlement follows the December 2016 guilty plea by the company and its affiliated construction firm to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Together, the companies agreed to pay $3.5 billion in a combined global settlement with U.S., Brazilian, and Swiss authorities.

    Financial Crimes FCPA Anti-Corruption Braskem SA Petrobras Brazil Switzerland

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