Bribery and Bid-Rigging

August 6, 2020

South Carolina-based consumer loan company World Acceptance Corporation has been ordered to pay $21 million to resolve allegations of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  According to the SEC, the company’s former Mexican subsidiary, WAC de Mexico S.A. de C.V., paid more than $4 million in bribes to Mexican officials from 2010 to 2017 in order to secure the ability to make loans to government employees, then recorded the payments as legitimate business expenses.  SEC

June 22, 2020

A former employee of Schneider Electric Buildings America, Bhaskar Patel, has been sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to forfeit over $2.5 million in connection with a five-year bribery scheme involving several federal energy savings performance contracts.  Patel had pleaded guilty to soliciting and receiving over $2.5 million in bribes from eight Schneider subcontractors on the contracts, which included a $24.7 million project for the USDA in California, two projects amounting to $34.4 million for the GSA in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, a $42.4 million project for the VA in the Northeast, a $70 million project for the Coast Guard in Puerto Rico, and a $114.3 million project for the Navy in California.  USAO VT

June 10, 2020

Alutiiq International Solutions LLC (AIS), an Alaskan Native Corporation and government contractor, has agreed to pay $1.25 million and enter into a non-prosecution agreement to settle allegations of violating the Anti-Kickback Act in connection with a multi-million dollar General Services Administration (GSA) contract to modernize the Harry S. Truman Federal Building in Washington, D.C.  Beginning in 2010, a project manager formerly employed by AIS allegedly accepted kickbacks from a subcontractor in exchange for steering more work to the subcontractor, while also fraudulently billing GSA for a non-existent on-site supervisor and overinflating costs from its subcontractor.  AIS and its parent company, Afognak Native Corporation, cooperated fully with the investigation and have since engaged in extensive remedial actions.  DOJ

June 10, 2020

A South Korean engineering company has been ordered to pay $68 million in criminal fines, civil penalties, and restitution after pleading guilty to defrauding the U.S. Army in a 2008 contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  According to the press release, SK Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (SK) submitted documents to the Army that were doctored to conceal $2.6 million in payments to a fake construction company that had bribed an Army Corps of Engineers official on SK’s behalf.  The company also took steps to hamper investigations by U.S. and Korean officials by withholding and destroying relevant documents, attempting to tamper with a potential witness, and failing to properly discipline the employees involved with the bribery scheme.  SK was suspended from participating in certain contracts with the U.S. government in 2017; with this plea agreement, it will undergo another three years of probation.  DOJ

April 8, 2020

The last defendant in a conspiracy to rig bids and fix prices for supply fuel to U.S. military bases in South Korea has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve civil claims under Section 4A of the Clayton Act and the False Claims Act.  The government’s investigation into all defendants, including Jier Shin Korea Co. Ltd. and its president, Sang Joo Lee, were instigated by a whistleblower and resulted in a previous settlement of over $205 million.  As part of the settlement, Jier Shin and Lee have agreed to cooperate in the ongoing investigation and abide by an antitrust compliance program.  DOJ

March 2, 2020

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Sandoz Inc. will pay a $195 million criminal penalty and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve claims that it conspired with competing manufacturers to allocate customers, rig bids, and fix prices for generic drugs.  DOJ

January 31, 2020

Airbus SE has agreed to pay more than $3.9 billion to resolve charges by U.S., U.K., and French authorities of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).  From at least 2008 until 2015, the French aircraft manufacturer allegedly paid bribes to officials in China, Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan, in exchange for improper business advantages and other favorable treatment.  Additionally, Airbus also failed to provide accurate information to the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) about commissions it paid in connection with the sale or export of arms.  DOJ; USAO DC