FCPA

March 23, 2015

Former principal vice president of Bechtel Corporation Asem Elgawhary was sentenced to 42 months in prison for accepting $5.2 million in kickbacks to manipulate the competitive bidding process for state-run power contracts in Egypt.  One of the power companies who supplied the bribes, Alstom S.A., pleaded guilty in December to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  DOJ

December 22, 2014

French power and transportation company Alstom S.A. pleaded guilty today and agreed to pay $772M to resolve charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act through a widespread scheme involving tens of millions of dollars in bribes in countries around the world, including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Bahamas. Whistleblower Insider

December 17, 2014

New York-based cosmetics giant Avon Products Inc.and its wholly owned subsidiary Avon Products (China) Co. Ltd. pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by making and concealing illicit payments to Chinese government officials to secure business there. The company agreed to pay more than $135M in criminal and regulatory penalties to resolve the charges. According to the government, from at least 2004 through 2008, Avon and Avon China conspired to falsify Avon’s books and records by falsely describing the nature and purpose of certain Avon China transactions. Specifically, the companies sought to disguise more than $8 million worth of gifts, travel, meals and entertainment that Avon China executives gave to Chinese officials. The Avon entities will pay $68M in criminal penalties and another $67M in related FCPA matter it settled with the SEC. Whistleblower Insider

December 17, 2014

Former CEO Benito Chinea and former managing director Joseph De Meneses of a US broker-dealer which established a group called Global Markets Group pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FPCA) and the Travel Act by bribing senior official in Venezuela’s state economic development bank in return for trading business that generated more than $60M. Chinea and De Meneses also agreed to pay $3.6M and $2.7M, respectively. DOJ

December 10, 2014

Dallas Airmotive Inc., a provider of aircraft engine maintenance, repair and overhaul services, admitted to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and agreed to pay a $14M criminal penalty to resolve charges it bribed Latin American government officials in order to secure lucrative government contracts there. According to Dallas Airmotive’s admissions, between 2008 and 2012, the company bribed officials of the Brazilian Air Force, the Peruvian Air Force, the Office of the Governor of the Brazilian State of Roraima, and the Office of the Governor of the San Juan Province in Argentina. DOJ

December 4, 2014

Asem Elgawhary, former Principal Vice President of Bechtel Corporation and General Manager of the Power Generation Engineering and Services Company (PGESCo), pleaded guilty in connection with a $5.2M kickback scheme intended to manipulate the competitive bidding process for state-run power contracts in Egypt. In his plea agreement, Elgawhary admitted that, from 1996 to 2011, he was assigned by Bechtel to be the general manager at PGESCo, a joint venture between Bechtel and Egypt’s state-owned and state-controlled electricity company (EEHC) and that he accepted a total of $5.2M from three power companies, which they paid to secure a competitive and unfair advantage in the bidding process. DOJ

November 3, 2014

California-based medical diagnostics and life sciences manufacturing company Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. agreed to pay $55M million to settle allegations it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by falsifying its books and records and failing to implement adequate internal controls in connection with sales it made in Russia and for making illegal bribes in connection with sales it made in Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. The company will pay $14.35M to the DOJ and $40.7M to the SEC.Whistleblower Insider

September 11, 2014

Hewlett-Packard subsidiary Hewlett-Packard Russia pleaded guilty to felony violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for bribing Russian government officials to secure a large technology contract with the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. According to the plea agreement, HP Russia executives created a multimillion dollar secret slush fund, at least part of which was used to bribe Russian government officials who awarded the company a contract valued at more than 35 million euros. HP Russia will pay a $58.8 million fine. DOJ

July 24, 2014

Bernd Kowalewski, the former President and CEO of BizJet International, pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for bribing officials in Mexico and Panama to get contracts for aircraft services. BizJet is a U.S. subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik that provides aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services. He is the third and most senior Bizjet executive to plead guilty to these violations. DOJ

July 17, 2014

William Pomponi, a former vice president of regional sales at Alstom Power Inc., the Connecticut-based power subsidiary of Alstom SA, the French power and transportation company, pleaded guilty for his participation in a scheme to pay bribes to foreign government officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Three Alstom corporate executives and Marubeni, a major Japanese corporation, have now pleaded guilty to a seven-year scheme to pay bribes to Indonesian officials to secure the $118M Tarahan power contract there. DOJ