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SEC Investigating Multi-level Marketing Corporation for FCPA Violations in China
On January 20, a Los Angeles-based maker of nutritional supplements and weight management products, disclosed in a Form 8-K filing that it is being investigated by the SEC in connection with the company’s activities in China. The company said it is also conducting its own review and “has discussed the SEC’s investigation and the company’s review with the Department of Justice.” It also said it is cooperating with the SEC but “cannot predict the eventual scope, duration, or outcome of the matter at this time.”
The announcement comes months after the company agreed last July to pay $200 million in consumer redress to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it operated a pyramid scheme and “deceived consumers into believing they could earn substantial money selling diet, nutritional supplement, and personal care products.” The FTC deal also required the company to “fundamentally restructure” its multi-level marketing operations and compensation structure.
American Casino and Resort Company Pays $7 Million Penalty to Resolve Criminal FCPA Charges
On January 17, Nevada-based gaming and resort company agreed to pay the DOJ nearly $7 million to resolve FCPA charges with a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) in connection with payments from 2006 to 2009 totaling almost $6 million to a business consultant to promote its brand in China and Macau. The company admitted that the payments were made “without any discernable legitimate business purpose,” that its executives had knowingly and willfully failed to implement adequate internal accounting controls to ensure that the payments were legitimate, and that it failed to prevent the false recording of those payments in its books and records, continued to make the payments even after warnings from its finance staff and an outside auditor, and terminated the finance department employee who raised those concerns.
The $7 million criminal penalty is a 25-percent discount from the bottom of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range. In announcing the NPA, the DOJ credited the company for its full cooperation in the investigation, including conducting a thorough internal investigation and voluntarily providing evidence and information to the DOJ, and its extensive remedial measures, including expanding its compliance and audit programs and making significant personnel changes. The DOJ found particularly notable that the company no longer employs or is affiliated with any of the individuals implicated in the investigation and hired a new general counsel and new heads of its internal audit and compliance functions.
In an unusual move, the DOJ’s announcement comes several months after the company resolved similar FCPA claims with the SEC in related proceedings last April. There the SEC filed a cease and desist order against the company and the company agreed to pay a civil penalty of approximately $9 million. The SEC alleged that the company violated the FCPA’s internal controls and books and records provisions in connection with more than $62 million in payments to a consultant operating in China and Macau who did not properly document how the money was used. The company had consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the charges. Previous FCPA Scorecard coverage of the company’s SEC settlement can be found here.
GOP Senators Introduce Bill to Create Five-member Board of Directors at CFPB
Last week, Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced a bill (S. 105) that would amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to replace the CFPB’s current single director with a bipartisan, five-member board. The proposed leadership structure would be similar to that of other financial regulators, including the FDIC, SEC and CFTC.
Chilean Chemical Company Settles FCPA Charges With SEC and DOJ
On January 13, Chilean chemical and mining company agreed to pay nearly $30.5 million to resolve criminal and civil FCPA charges in connection with payments to politically-connected individuals in Chile. The company admitted that, from at least 2008 to 2015, it made approximately $15 million in payments to Chilean politicians, political candidates, and individuals connected to them. Many of the payments violated Chilean tax law and/or campaign finance limits and were not supported by documentation. Rather, the company made many of these payments to third-party vendors associated with the politically-connected individuals based on fictitious contracts and invoices for non-existent services. The company falsely recorded many of these payments in its books and records.
The company agreed to a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the DOJ, including a $15,487,500 criminal penalty, and agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for two years. The criminal penalty reflected a 25 percent discount from the low end of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range due to the company’s full cooperation and substantial remediation. The company also agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to the SEC pursuant to an Administrative Order Instituting Cease-and-Desist Proceedings to settle the SEC’s charges that the company violated the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA.
This settlement demonstrates the jurisdictional-reach of the U.S. government in enforcing the FCPA. The Chilean company with no U.S. operations, agreed to settle both the SEC’s and DOJ’s charges even though the entirety of the conduct occurred outside of the United States and was committed by foreign nationals. The only tie to the United States referenced in the SEC and DOJ settlement papers is that the company is registered with the SEC as a foreign private issuer (its Series B shares have been listed on the NYSE since 1993).
Medical Device Company Reaches Second FCPA Settlement in the Span of Five Years
On January 18, a Texas-based medical device company admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay approximately $6 million to the SEC to settle FCPA books and records and internal controls charges in connection with improper payments made by its Brazilian subsidiary to doctors through third parties. In related non-FCPA proceedings, the company also agreed to pay a $8.25 million penalty to resolve various accounting violations. Each of the four former executives consented to accounting-related SEC orders without admitting or denying the findings. Filing of each can be found here, here, here, and here.
According to the Administrative Order Instituting Cease-and-Desist Proceedings, the company’s Brazilian subsidiary employed third-party commercial representatives and distributors to make improper payments to doctors employed at government-owned hospitals to induce them to use the company’s products, thereby increasing sales. The company also improperly recorded revenue, leading to the related accounting charges.
In settling with the SEC, The company has now resolved two separate FCPA cases in the span of five years. In 2012, the company resolved FCPA actions with both the SEC and DOJ in connection with bribes paid to Mexican officials by its Mexican subsidiary. Given the prior corruption and internal controls issues, the SEC found that the company failed to devise and maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurances to detect and prevent such payments. The company agreed to hire a compliance consultant for one year.
Trump Announces CFPB Transition Team
On January 5, 2016, the Trump Transition team announced the names of the four individuals assigned to lead the President-elect’s CFPB “Landing Team.” Generally, each landing team is tasked with collect information on each agency—ranging from the agency's budget and policies to the status of various rulemakings and the current administration's priorities—all with the overarching purpose of facilitating an orderly transfer of power at the federal financial regulators. The CFPB Landing Team includes:
- Paul Atkins, former GOP Commissioner for the SEC and current CEO of Patomak Global Partners LLC, which provides consulting services concerning financial services industry matters, regulatory compliance, risk and crisis management, public affairs, independent reviews, litigation support, and strategy.
- Kyle Hauptman, Senior Development Manager and occasional writer about financial & political issues for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), member of the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies, and former chief economic adviser on the issues of Financial Markets, Housing to the Romney For President (RFP) campaign.
- Consuala “CJ” Jordan, a public relations executive and Republican political consultant who is currently CEO of The Jordan Management Group, LLC, a full service Government Relations and Public Affairs Firm, specializing in strategic business development.
- Julie B. Lindsay, Managing Director and General Counsel of Capital Markets and Corporate Reporting at Citigroup Inc., and former Counsel to Commissioner Glassman at the SEC.
American Multinational Food Company and British Multinational Confectionery Company Settle FCPA Charges with SEC for $13 Million Related to India Chocolate Factory
On January 6, the British company and the American multinational food company, agreed to pay $13 million to settle the SEC’s allegations related to an agent’s interactions with Indian officials regarding a chocolate factory in India. The charges relate to payments made by the British company’s India unit in 2010 to a local agent who provided consultation services and dealt with Indian governmental officials to obtain clearances and licenses to increase production at the British company’s Baddi plant. The SEC alleged, and both companies neither admitted nor denied, that the British company violated the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA.
According to the SEC, the British company failed to perform appropriate due diligence on the agent and to monitor the agent’s actions, creating a risk that payments could be used for improper purposes. While the agent submitted invoices claiming that he prepared various license applications, the SEC claimed that these license applications were actually prepared by the British company’s other employees. The SEC noted in its decision that the American company had completed its own internal investigation that led to the British company ending its relationship with the agent and that the American company both cooperated with the SEC’s investigation and undertook “extensive remedial actions with respect to [the British company].”
Manufacturing Company Agrees to NPA, Will Pay More than $75 Million
On December 29, a Kentucky-based manufacturer and distributor of cable and wire, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ regarding improper payments to government officials in Angola, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, and Thailand. The company agreed to pay the DOJ a $20.5 million criminal penalty. The company simultaneously resolved an investigation by the SEC over the same conduct, and agreed to disgorge approximately $55.3 million, along with a $6.5 million penalty regarding accounting violations at its Brazilian subsidiary.
According to the DOJ, beginning in 2002, the company’s employees became aware that the company’s foreign subsidiaries were using third party agents and distributors to make corrupt payments to foreign officials in various countries to secure business. In 2011, employees from the company’s subsidiary expressed concerns to regional and parent-level executives that commission payments were being used for improper purposes but the company failed to investigate the payments or implement a system of internal controls to detect and prevent the abuse. In total, the subsidiaries paid approximately $13 million to third party agents and distributors from 2002 to 2013, a portion of which was used to make unlawful payments to foreign government officials. According to the DOJ, the payments and resulting contracts netted the company more than $51 million in profits on sales to state-owned enterprises around the world. The SEC separately found that due to weak internal controls, the company failed to detect improper inventory accounting at its Brazilian subsidiary, causing the company to materially misstate its financial statements from 2008 to the second quarter of 2012.
Simultaneous with its resolution with the company, SEC also resolved charges against the company’s then-senior vice president and the individual responsible for sales in Angola. The former senior vice president agreed to pay the SEC a $20,000 penalty without admitting or denying that he knowingly circumvented internal accounting controls and caused FCPA violations when he approved over $340,000 in payments to an agent in Angola. The SEC separately noted that while the company’s former CEO and CFO had now returned millions of dollars in compensation they had received during the period of the violations, the SEC had found no personal misconduct by either former officer.
The company’s $20.5 million criminal penalty represented a 50 percent reduction off the bottom of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range based on the DOJ’s conclusion that the company “voluntarily and timely disclosed the conduct at issue, fully cooperated in the investigation and fully remediated. The benefits the company received from the DOJ are similar to those companies can receive for participating in the Fraud Section’s FCPA Pilot Program for the self-reporting of FCPA violations. Prior coverage of the Fraud Section’s FCPA Pilot Program can be found here.
Prudential Regulators Issue Guidance on New Accounting Standards Governing Credit Loss Allowances
On December 19, the Prudential Regulators have issued guidance in the form of a cover letter (OCC 2016-45; SR 16-19; FIL-79-2016) and FAQs to assist financial institutions and bank examiners interpret and apply new accounting standards applicable to estimated allowances for credit losses. Though applicable to all financial institutions, regardless of size, there are different effective dates for the new standard depending on the institutions status as a public entity and/or SEC filer. The above-referenced FAQs summarize key elements of the new accounting standard, such as effective dates, scope, and transition, while also highlighting the specific GAAP accounting provisions affected by the new standard, including: (i) purchased credit-deteriorated financial assets; (ii) held-to-maturity debt securities; (iii) available-for-sale debt securities; (iv) troubled debt restructuring; and (v) off-balance-sheet credit exposures. The guidance also outlines steps regulators have encourage financial institutions to take to prepare for the transition to the new accounting standard, including: (i) initial supervisory views on measurement methods, (ii) the use of vendors, (iii) scalability, (iv) data needs, and (v) allowance processes.
Obama Signs Into Law SEC Small Business Advocate Act
On December 16, President Obama signed into law H.R. 3784, the SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2016. The legislation, which had broad bipartisan support in the House and Senate, establishes (within the SEC) an Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation and a Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. Both the Office of the Advocate and the Advisory Committee will be tasked with the dual role of helping small businesses navigate the securities laws and advocate against the application of overly burdensome regulations to small businesses. The small-business advocate is modeled after the SEC’s office of the investor advocate, which was created under the Dodd-Frank Act as a voice for investors.