September 29, 2016

Och-Ziff Capital Management Group will pay nearly $200 million to settle civil charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  Och-Ziff CEO  Daniel S. Och and Och-Ziff CFO Joel M. Frank will pay nearly $2.2 million to settle charges that they caused certain violations.  The SEC detected the misconduct while proactively scrutinizing the way that financial services firms were obtaining investments from sovereign wealth funds overseas.  The SEC’s subsequent investigation of Och-Ziff found that the fund used intermediaries, agents, and business partners to pay bribes to high-level government officials in Africa.  According to the SEC’s order, the illicit payments induced the Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund to invest in Och-Ziff managed funds.  Other bribes were paid to secure mining rights and corruptly influence government officials in Libya, Chad, Nigeria, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  As part of its settlement agreement with the SEC, Och-Ziff acknowledged that it expected to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department in a parallel criminal proceeding and its subsidiary OZ Africa Management GP LLC agreed to enter into a plea agreement.  Och-Ziff is expected to pay a criminal penalty of $213 million.  SEC

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