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Massachusetts-based Imaging Company and Danish Subsidiary Settle FCPA Charges with the SEC and DOJ
On June 21, the SEC and DOJ announced a nearly $15 million settlement with a Massachusetts-based imaging company and its wholly-owned Danish subsidiary to resolve parallel civil and criminal actions involving FCPA violations. The SEC alleged that, from at least 2001 through early 2011, the subsidiary paid about $20 million to third parties in hundreds of sham transactions with distributors in Russia and shell companies in Belize, the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, and Seychelles. The sham transactions involved fictitious inflated invoices to the distributors with the over-payments going to third parties identified by the distributors. The subsidiary did not have a relationship with the third parties and did not know if the payments had any business purpose for the distributors.
The settlement is consistent with the settlement offer that the imaging company disclosed last December, and it reflects the company’s agreement to pay $7.67 million in disgorgement and $3.8 million in prejudgment interest to resolve the SEC’s books and records and internal controls charges, and the subsidiary’s agreement to pay $3.4 million in criminal fines in a non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ. The subsidiary’s former CFO also settled with the SEC, agreeing to pay a $20,000 penalty to settle allegations that he knowingly circumvented internal controls and falsified the subsidiary’s books and records.
Republicans Attempt to Replace the Dodd-Frank Act with the Financial CHOICE Act
On June 7, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) released details of the Financial CHOICE (Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs) Act, a Republican proposal to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act. According to Chairman Hensarling’s remarks delivered to the Economic Club of New York, “Dodd-Frank has failed.” The goals of the proposed plan are: (i) to promote economic growth through competitive, transparent, and innovative capital markets; (ii) to provide the opportunity for every American to achieve financial independence; (iii) to protect consumers from fraud and deception as well as the loss of economic freedom; (iv) to end taxpayer bailouts of financial institutions and too big to fail institutions; (v) to manage systemic risk; (vi) to simplify in order to prevent powerful entities from taking advantage of complexity in the law; and (vii) to hold Wall Street and Washington accountable. Importantly, Section Three (“Empower Americans to achieve financial independence by fundamentally reforming the CFPB and protecting investors”) proposes, among other things, to replace the current single director structure of the CFPB with a five-member, bipartisan commission subject to congressional oversight and appropriations. Section Three further proposes to repeal indirect auto lending guidance. As part of its goal to end “too big to fail” institutions and bank bailouts, Section Two of the Act proposes to retroactively repeal FSOC’s authority to designate firms as systematically important financial institutions. Finally, in an effort to “unleash opportunities for small businesses, innovators, and job creators by facilitating capital formation,” Section Six of the Act proposes to repeal the Volcker Rule, along with other sections and titles of Dodd-Frank that limit capital formation.
SEC Reaches Non-Prosecution Agreements for Bribes of Chinese Officials; DOJ Declines to Pursue FCPA Enforcement Actions
On June 7, the SEC announced it had entered into non-prosecution agreements with two unrelated companies in connection with bribes paid to Chinese officials by foreign subsidiaries. First, a Massachusetts-based internet services provider agreed to pay $652,000 in disgorgement and $19,433 in interest. According to its agreement, the company’s foreign subsidiary had paid bribes to induce Chinese government-owned entities to purchase more services than they needed. Second, a Rhode Island-based residential and commercial building products manufacturer agreed to pay $291,000 in disgorgement and $30,000 in interest. According to that agreement, the company’s subsidiary made improper payments and gifts to Chinese officials in exchange for preferential treatment, relaxed regulatory oversight, and reduced customs duties, taxes, and fees. The agreements each stipulate that the companies are not charged with violations of the FCPA and will not pay any additional monetary penalties.
In support of the agreements, the SEC noted that both companies promptly self-reported the conduct and cooperated extensively with the ensuing investigations. Kara Brockmeyer, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit, praised the companies for “promptly tighten[ing] their internal controls after discovering the bribes and [taking] swift remedial measures to eliminate the problems.”
Also on June 7, each company released letters from the DOJ declining to pursue enforcement actions against the companies. The letters are the first public declinations issued by the DOJ under its FCPA Pilot Program announced in April 2016. The one-year Pilot Program is designed to encourage companies to voluntarily self-report potential FCPA-related misconduct and cooperate with federal investigations. DOJ declined to pursue enforcement actions based on several factors, including that the companies identified the misconduct themselves, promptly self-disclosed the misconduct, thoroughly investigated the misconduct, enhanced their compliance programs and internal accounting controls, terminated the employees responsible for the misconduct, disgorged any ill-gotten gains, fully cooperated with the federal investigations, and agreed to cooperate with any future investigations.
SEC Settles with New York Financial Firm and Employee Over Alleged Failure to Protect Customer Data
On June 8, the SEC announced that a New York-based financial services firm agreed to pay a $1 million civil monetary penalty to resolve allegations that it violated the “Safeguards Rule,” Rule 30(a) of Regulation S-P (17 C.F.R. § 248.30(a)). According to the SEC, the firm “failed to ensure the reasonable design and proper operation of its policies and procedures in safeguarding confidential customer data.” The SEC further contends that the firm failed to audit or test the authorization models that allowed employees to access the portals hosting customer data. The financial services firm settled the charges without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. As of result of the company’s alleged failures, between 2011 and 2014, a then-current employee of the firm gained access to and copied data regarding approximately 730,000 customer accounts to his personal server. The SEC alleges that the employee’s personal server was hacked, and portions of the misappropriated data were posted to at least three Internet sites, with an offer to sell more of the stolen data in exchange for payment in digital currency. Per the employee’s separate consent order, the employee agreed to an industry and penny stock bar with the right to apply for reentry after five years. He was previously criminally convicted for his actions and received 36 months of probation and $600,000 in restitution.
SEC Charges Brokerage Firm with AML Failures
On June 1, the SEC announced that a Wall Street-based brokerage firm agreed to pay a $300,000 penalty to settle charges that it failed to sufficiently evaluate or monitor customers’ trading for suspicious activity and to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) in an alleged willful violation of Section 17(a) of the Exchange Act and Rule 17a-8. The broker-dealer was required to have written AML policies and procedures, which outlined specific examples of suspicious activities that, according to the SEC, “should have triggered internal reviews and, in a number of instances, [(SAR)] filings.” According to the SEC, the broker-dealer failed to file SARs on the following activity: (i) accounts that traded an aberrational percentage of a given stock in a particular day; (ii) accounts of entities that had executives charged with criminal securities fraud; (iii) customer trading that was the subject of grand jury subpoenas and regulatory inquiries; (iv) liquidation of securities followed immediately by large cash transfers; (v) transactions in securities that were subsequently subject to SEC trading suspensions; and (vi) rejections by other broker-dealers of attempts by the firm to transfer customers’ securities. Despite these red flags, the brokerage firm failed to file SARs for more than five years. The case represents the SEC’s first against a firm for solely failing to file SARs.
SEC Names Christopher Hetner Senior Advisor to the Chair for Cybersecurity Policy
On June 2, the SEC named Christopher Hetner Senior Advisor to the Chair for Cybersecurity Policy. In this capacity, Hetner will serve as a senior advisor to Chair Mary Jo White on all policy matters relating to cybersecurity. Having joined the SEC in January 2015, Hetner currently serves as Cybersecurity Lead for the Technology Control Program within the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), coordinating cybersecurity efforts across OCIE and lending advice on enforcement matters. As Senior Advisor, Hetner “will be responsible for coordinating efforts across the agency to address cybersecurity policy, engaging with external stakeholders, and further enhancing the SEC’s mechanisms for assessing broad-based market risk.”
SEC Announces Stephen Cohen's Departure
On June 3, the SEC announced that Stephen L. Cohen, Associate Director of the Enforcement Division, plans to leave the agency later this month. Cohen joined the SEC in 2004 as the Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel in the Enforcement Division, served as a senior advisor to former SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro from 2009 to 2011, and was appointed Associate Director of Enforcement in 2011. Under Cohen’s direction, the SEC brought enforcement actions addressing a variety of market participants’ alleged violations of federal securities laws.
SEC Awards At Least $5 Million to Whistleblower
On May 17, the SEC announced that a former company insider will receive between $5 million and $6 million for providing a “detailed tip” that led the agency to uncover securities violations. According to the SEC, without the whistleblower’s information, the violations would have been “nearly impossible” to detect. Since the SEC started its whistleblower program in 2011, the agency has awarded more than $67 million to 29 whistleblowers. The SEC’s most recent award is its third highest and follows a $3.5 million award announced last week.
DOJ Closes FCPA Investigation into Onshore, Rig-based Well Servicing Contractor Without Prosecution; SEC Negotiations Continuing
On April 28, an onshore, rig-based well servicing contractor with operations in the United States, Mexico, and Russia announced that the DOJ had closed its investigation into possible violations of the FCPA in relation to the company’s Mexico operations and declined prosecution. The company stated that it is still in negotiations with the SEC regarding possible violations involving the company’s Russian business. The company has been under investigation by the SEC and DOJ since 2014, when the company made a voluntary disclosure to both agencies about the Mexico allegations.
Colorado Mining Company Announces FCPA Investigation
Recently, a gold mining company based in Colorado disclosed in its quarterly filings an investigation of certain business activities of the company and its affiliates outside the U.S. for possible violations of the FCPA. The company stated that it had hired outside counsel to assist in the investigation, and it was working with the SEC and DOJ with respect to the investigation. The company also stated that, in March 2016, it entered into one-year tolling agreements with the SEC and DOJ. The company’s recent disclosure of the investigation did not specify the nature of the business activities being investigated or where the potential misconduct took place, but the company has mining operations in Ghana, Australia, Indonesia, Peru, and Suriname.