December 29, 2016

Kentucky-based wire and cable manufacturer General Cable Corporation will pay more than $75 million to resolve parallel SEC and DOJ investigations related to its violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  General Cable will also pay an additional $6.5 million penalty to the SEC to settle separate accounting-related violations.  According to the SEC’s order, General Cable’s overseas subsidiaries made improper payments to foreign government officials for a dozen years to obtain or retain business in Angola, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia, and Thailand.  The company’s weak internal controls also failed to detect improper inventory accounting at its Brazilian subsidiary, causing the company to materially misstate its financial statements from 2008 to the second quarter of 2012.  Karl Zimmer, General Cable’s then-senior vice president responsible for sales in Angola will also pay a $20,000 penalty to settle charges of knowingly circumventing internal accounting controls and causing FCPA violations when he approved certain improper payments.  SEC

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, FCPA,