Paying the Price: 10 Biggest FCPA Fines Fine: $25 million Year: 2015 Company: BHP Billiton Country: Australia Fine: $795 million Year: 2016 Company: VimpelCom Country: Netherlands 6 10
Fine: $1.1 billion Year: 2019 Company: Ericsson Country: Sweden Another Swedish telecoms
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The multinational mining and metals company fell foul of the FCPA by sponsoring the attendance of foreign officials who could help it with its business endeavors or regulatory challenges at the 2008 Olympic Games. Fine: $123 million Year: 2021 Company: Deutsche Bank Country: Germany The bank was accused of making improper payments to foreign officials, their relatives and associates who were engaged as intermediaries and consultants to help them obtain business. Fine: $398 million Year: 2013 Company: Total Country: France Oil and gas company Total was charged with making illegal payments to an Iranian official who used his influence to help it win contracts to develop oil and gas fields in the country. Fine: $772 million Year: 2014 Company: Alstom Country: France Energy company Alstom pleaded guilty to a decade-plus-long scheme involving bribes made in countries around the world in connection with power, grid and transportation projects for state- owned entities. 7 8 9
Uzbekistan was the focus of attempts by a Dutch telecoms company to bribe its way to obtaining government-issued licenses, frequencies, channels and blocks of numbers. Fine: $1 billion Year: 2017 Company: Telia Country: Sweden Telecoms company Telia was accused of paying at least $330 million in bribes to win business in Uzbekistan via a shell company controlled by an influential Uzbek government official. Fine: $1 billion Year: 2022 The commodities giant admitted to allegations that it had made corrupt payments to foreign officials in multiple countries over a long period of time and to committing commodities price manipulation. Company: Glencore Country: Switzerland 5 4
company admitted to making tens of millions of dollars in improper payments over the space of 17 years across at least five countries to strengthen its position in the market. Fine: $1.8 billion Year: 2018 Company: Petrobras Country: Brazil The Brazilian energy company was investigated for violating the FCPA by facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of bribes to politicians and political parties in Brazil. “The hefty … criminal penalty should act as a deterrent to anyone seeking to perpetrate this kind of fraud in the future,” FBI Assistant Director Robert Johnson said. Fine: $3 billion Year: 2020 Company: Goldman Sachs Country: U.S. The investment bank was charged after former senior employees were said to have bribed high-ranking government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi to secure high- value business from a Malaysian government-owned investment fund. One of Goldman’s managing directors was personally charged for his role and is now permanently barred from the securities industry. 1 2
What many of these cases have in common is a lack of robust internal controls and a failure of ethical company culture. As Don Fort, chief of the IRS’ criminal investigation unit put it in the Ericsson case , “Implementing strong compliance systems and internal controls are basic principles that international companies must follow to steer clear of illegal activity. … Shortcomings in these areas made it easier for … executives and employees to pay bribes and falsify … books and records.”
20 | April/May 2024
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