FCPA

April 30, 2018

The SEC announced that Japan-based Panasonic Corp. will pay more than $143 million to resolve charges of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and accounting fraud violations involving its global avionics business. According to the SEC’s order, Panasonic’s U.S. subsidiary, Panasonic Avionics Corp. (PAC), a provider of in-flight entertainment and communication systems, offered a lucrative consulting position to a government official at a state-owned airline to induce the official to help PAC in obtaining and retaining business from the airline. At the time it orchestrated the bribery scheme, PAC was negotiating two agreements with the airline valued at more than $700 million. PAC ultimately retained the official and paid approximately $875,000 for a position that required little to no work, using an unrelated third-party vendor to conceal the payments. SEC

March 26, 2018

The SEC announced a settled action against Canada-based Kinross Gold Corporation for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations arising from the company’s repeated failure to implement adequate accounting controls of two African subsidiaries. According to the SEC’s order instituting a settled administrative proceeding, Kinross Gold acquired the African subsidiaries in a $7.1 billion transaction in 2010, understanding that the subsidiaries lacked anti-corruption compliance programs and internal accounting controls. It took Kinross Gold almost three years to implement adequate controls, despite multiple internal audits flagging widespread deficiencies. The SEC’s order finds that Kinross Gold violated books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the federal securities laws. Without admitting or denying the findings, Kinross agreed to a cease-and-desist order, a penalty of $950,000 and undertakings to report on its remedial steps for a period of one year. SEC

April 30, 2018

Panasonic Avionics Corporation, a subsidiary of Japan-based electronics giant Panasonic Corporation, agreed to pay a $137.4 million criminal penalty to resolve charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act through a scheme to make improper foreign payments through consultants and sales agents. Panasonic also agreed to pay roughly $143 million in disgorgement to the SEC for a total payout of more than $280 million. DOJ

March 13, 2018

Transport Logistics International Inc., a Maryland-based company that provides services for the transportation of nuclear materials, agreed to pay a $2 million penalty to resolve criminal charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a scheme that involved the bribery of an official at a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation. DOJ