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UK SFO declines to prosecute individuals in British aviation company and British pharmaceutical company corruption investigations
The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced on February 22 that it was ending two long-running corruption-related investigations – one of a aviation company and the other of a pharmaceutical giant – without bringing charges against any individuals.
In 2017, the aviation company paid $650 million to settle an SFO investigation into a government kickbacks scheme. In connection with the resolution of the SFO’s charges, the aviation company admitted to bribing government officials in Russia, India, China, Nigeria, and elsewhere in exchange for contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds. The aviation company also paid $170 million to resolve related charges brought by the DOJ, with the DOJ later charging five individuals for their alleged participation in the bribery scheme.
Although the SFO announced in 2014 that the pharmaceutical company was under investigation, the SFO never disclosed the subject matter of that investigation. In its only announcements about the case, the SFO has noted simply that the investigation concerned the company’s “commercial practices.” In 2012, the pharmaceutical company had paid $3 billion in the U.S. to settle charges brought by U.S. prosecutors concerning alleged off-label marketing, and in 2014 was convicted in China of bribing doctors and hospitals to improve sales, but it remains unknown whether the SFO’s investigation related to one of these known issues or something different.
The SFO director explained in a public statement that the decision to decline prosecution of any individuals in connection with these investigations was because “there is either insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction, or it is not in the public interest to bring a prosecution in these cases.”
IT outsourcing company resolves FCPA investigations
On February 15, an information technology and business process outsourcing company paid $25 million to settle SEC civil charges that it violated the FCPA. The SEC alleged that the company paid $3.6 million in bribes through its construction contractor to senior government officials in India in order to obtain permits needed to build, among other things, a large office campus in Chennai. To resolve the SEC’s allegations, the company paid $19 million in disgorgement and a $6 million penalty.
The DOJ declined to bring criminal charges against the company, citing, among other factors, the company’s voluntary self-disclosure, comprehensive investigation, full cooperation and remediation, and its preexisting compliance program. The company issued a statement highlighting that the matter did not concern any of the company’s work with clients and did not affect any of the services it provides to clients.
On the same day the settlement was announced, two former company executives—the president and chief legal officer—were hit with civil and criminal charges for allegedly authorizing $2 million in bribes and directing the creation of false contractor change orders to mask payment of the bribes. The former executives are charged with violating the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA. Pursuant to its letter agreement with DOJ, the company is required to fully cooperate in the ongoing prosecutions.
OFAC reaches settlement with non-U.S. chemical manufacturer resolving Cuban sanctions violations
On February 14, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $5.5 million settlement with a German chemical manufacturer for 304 alleged violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR). According to OFAC, the settlement resolves the manufacturer’s alleged involvement in fulfilling Cuban orders for chemical reagents on 304 invoices. Prior to and upon acquiring the manufacturer, an Illinois-based company sent warnings to the manufacturer that all Cuban transactions must be ceased, along with guidelines for complying with U.S. sanctions. OFAC noted, however, that the manufacturer designed and implemented a system to conceal its on-going transactions, engaged an external logistics company to handle shipping documents and declarations, and conducted training sessions for staff to ensure the system was concealed from the Illinois company.
In arriving at the settlement amount, OFAC considered the following as aggravating factors: (i) the willful conduct of the manufacturer’s management; (ii) the utilization of written procedures to “engage in a pattern of conduct in violation of the CACR”; (iii) the number of transactions over an extended period of time “caused significant harm to the sanctions program objective of maintaining a comprehensive embargo on Cuba”; and (iv) the sophistication and revenue stream of the manufacturer, and the fact that it is a subsidiary of a large, international company.
OFAC also considered several mitigating factors, including the Illinois company’s cooperation with OFAC, voluntary self-disclosure, and execution of a tolling agreement on behalf of the manufacturer. OFAC further stressed the importance of implementing risk-based controls and due-diligence procedures to ensure subsidiaries comply with OFAC sanction obligations.
Visit here for additional InfoBytes coverage on Cuban sanctions.
U.S. Treasury concerned with European Commission's identification of AML/CFT-deficient U.S. territories
On February 13, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a statement responding to a list of jurisdictions published by the European Commission as having strategic deficiencies related to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). The list—which includes certain jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies that were already identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) (see previous InfoBytes coverage here)—also identifies 11 additional jurisdictions, including the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. According to the European Commission, the “banks and other entities covered by EU anti-money laundering rules will be required to apply increased checks (due diligence) on financial operations involving customers and financial institutions from these high-risk third countries to better identify any suspicious money flows.”
Hawaiian executive's bribery guilty plea leads to Micronesian official charged with money laundering conspiracy
On February 11, the Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed conspiracy to commit money laundering charges against a Micronesian government official alleged to have taken bribes to secure engineering and project management contracts from the government of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The charges follow the recent guilty plea by a Hawaiian executive to a charge of conspiracy to bribe the Micronesian official in violation of the FCPA.
According to the DOJ, a Micronesian citizen was a government official in the FSM Department of Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure who administered FSM’s aviation programs. Between 2006 and 2016, the Hawaiian executive’s Hawaii-based engineering and consulting company allegedly paid around $440,000 in bribes in the form of cash, vehicles, and entertainment to FSM officials, including the citizen, to obtain and retain contracts with the FSM government valued at nearly $8 million. The complaint unsealed on Monday contains specific examples of requests by the citizen to the executive for cash gifts and a 2014 Chevy Silverado. According to the executive’s guilty plea, he fulfilled the citizen’s requests and sent wire transfers and the automobile internationally for the citizen’s personal use.
OFAC designates Turkish individual as “Foreign Sanctions Evader” in relation to settlement resolving alleged Iranian sanctions violations
On February 7, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $13,381 settlement with a Virginia-based corporation on behalf of its Turkish affiliate for six alleged violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR). The settlement resolves potential civil liability for the Turkish affiliate’s alleged practice of dispatching employees to Iran to fulfill service agreements and providing products, parts, and services while knowing that they were going to Iranian end-users. OFAC’s findings included that the Turkish affiliate willfully took steps to continue its Iranian business despite the Virginia corporation’s “extensive efforts to ensure [the affiliate] complied with the ITSR,” and “fraudulently certified” that no Iranian business was continuing. This settlement demonstrates the risks posed to U.S. companies by the Iran-related dealings of their foreign subsidiaries.
In a concurrent action the same day, OFAC sanctioned a Turkish individual as a “Foreign Sanctions Evader,” pursuant to Executive Order 13608, for allegedly instructing the Turkish affiliate to violate the Iranian sanctions. According to OFAC, the sanctioned individual “regularly and fraudulently” certified to the Virginia corporation that no products were being sent to Iran. Additionally, OFAC claims that upon learning of the corporation’s internal investigation, the individual and other members of the Turkish affiliate’s management team attempted to conceal the apparent violations. As a result, all direct and indirect transactions involving the individual intended for the U.S., or provided by or to U.S. persons, are prohibited. Moreover, U.S. financial institutions are instructed to reject payments involving the identified individual.
View here for additional InfoBytes coverage of actions related to Iran.
Global Financial Innovation Network seeking cross-border testing applications
On January 31, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) officially launched and is now seeking cross-border testing applications. As previously covered by InfoBytes, in August 2018, the FCA announced the creation of the GFIN in collaboration with 11 other global financial regulators. The network has now expanded to include 29 organizations, including financial regulators and other related entities, committed to supporting financial innovation. The GFIN has three primary functions: (i) to collaborate on innovation and to provide accessible regulatory contact information for firms; (ii) to provide a forum for joint regulation technology work; and (iii) to provide firms with an environment in which to trial cross-border solutions.
The announcement states that the network has opened a one month application window for firms interested in joining a pilot cohort for cross-border testing for new technologies. Firms interested in participating are required to meet the application requirements of all the jurisdictions in which they would like to test. Each applicable regulator will decide whether the firm’s proposed test meets the screening criteria and ensure safeguards are in place in their jurisdiction for testing. The deadline for testing applications is February 28.
Federal Reserve releases CCAR scenarios; “less-complex” firms exempt from 2019 stress tests
On February 5, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) released the scenarios banks and supervisors will use to conduct the 2019 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) and Dodd-Frank Act stress tests exercises for large bank holding companies and large U.S. operations of foreign firms. Each of the three scenarios—baseline, adverse, and severely adverse—include 28 variables that cover domestic and international economic activity. The Fed noted that “less-complex” firms with total consolidated assets between $100 billion and $250 billion have been moved to an extended stress test cycle for the 2019 cycle. (See related InfoBytes coverage here.) Capital plan and stress testing submissions are due by April 5.
In addition, the Fed finalized enhanced disclosures of the stress testing models used in annual CCARs beginning in 2019, which will be updated each year. The Fed also amended its policy regarding the economic scenario design framework for stress testing, and adopted a policy statement on prior disclosures, which outlines the Fed’s approach to model development, implementation, and validation. The changes are designed to increase the transparency of the stress testing exercises and provide significantly more information for firms.
In related news, also on February 5, the OCC released its own stress testing scenarios for OCC-supervised institutions.
OFAC reaches settlement with U.S. cosmetics company for alleged North Korean sanctions violations
On January 31, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $996,080 settlement with a California-based cosmetics company for 156 alleged violations of the North Korean Sanctions Regulations. According to OFAC, the settlement resolves potential civil liability for the company’s alleged involvement in the importation of goods from two Chinese suppliers containing materials sourced from North Korea.
In arriving at the settlement amount, OFAC considered the following as aggravating factors: (i) the alleged violations may have resulted in the North Korean government gaining control of U.S.-origin funds; (ii) the company is “large and commercially sophisticated [and] engages in a substantial volume of international trade”; and (iii) during the period of the alleged activity, the company’s compliance program, which was either non-existent or inadequate, failed to have “exercised sufficient supply chain due diligence” in its sourcing of products from a region posing a high risk to the effectiveness of the North Korean Sanctions Regulations.
Visit here for additional InfoBytes coverage on North Korea sanctions.
Former insurance executives charged with laundering bribes to Barbados Minister of Industry
On January 28, DOJ announced charges against the former chief executive and a former senior vice president of a Barbados-based insurance company. The indictment alleges that the the company's executives participated in a scheme to launder approximately $36,000 in bribes to the then-Minister of Industry of Barbados in exchange for his assistance in securing government contracts for the company. According to the indictment, the bribes were laundered through a United States bank account in the name of a dental company located in New York. The former Minister of Industry was arrested in August 2018 and the indictment against him referenced, but did not name, his alleged co-conspirators. The superseding indictment against the three co-defendants and another still unnamed former insurance executive was unsealed on January 18, 2019. Prior Scorecard coverage of the arrest and indictment of the former Minister of Industry can be found here.
The company voluntarily self-disclosed the case to DOJ and received a declination letter from DOJ for its cooperation pursuant to the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. The declination letter required the company to disgorge $93,940.19 in profits received through the conduct at issue. The declination was based, in part, on the company’s termination of all executives and employees involved in the alleged misconduct and in helping DOJ identify the culpable individuals. Prior Scorecard coverage of the declination letter can be found here.