What’s The Tally?

The Justice Department says it plans to prosecute more individuals under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — and send them to jail. We looked through our posts to see how men and women fared over the past year. Below are excerpts from posts dealing with those who’ve been criminally charged or sentenced under the FCPA, or settled enforcement actions with the SEC, or both, during the past twelve months. The titles link to the original posts.

More Individuals Indicted For FCPA Violations (September 8, 2008)

The Justice Department said it arrested four people last week on charges that they and their company bribed Vietnamese officials in exchange for contracts to supply equipment and technology to government agencies in Vietnam.

The DOJ said U.S. citizens Nam Nguyen, 52, of Houston; Joseph Lukas, 59, of Smithville, N.J.; Kim Nguyen, 39, of Philadelphia; and An Nguyen, 32, of Philadelphia were arrested after they, along with Nexus Technologies Inc., were indicted on Sept. 4, 2008, by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia on one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and four substantive counts of violating the FCPA.

Ex-KBR Boss Pleads Guilty (September 4, 2008)

The Justice Department said today that Albert “Jack” Stanley, 65, a former chairman and CEO of KBR, the global engineering and construction firm based in Houston, pleaded guilty to a two-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. He appeared in U.S. District Court in his hometown of Houston before U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison. . . .

Under the plea deal accepted by the court, Stanley faces seven years in prison and a restitution payment of $10.8 million.

Former Execs Avoid Hard Time (September 3, 2008)

Two former telecommunications executives who admitted bribing employees of state-owned companies in Africa and concealing the payments have avoided prison in exchange for their cooperation in an ongoing FBI investigation.

The Justice Department said yesterday that Roger Michael Young, 48, of Washington, D.C., a former managing director of ITXC Corporation, has been sentenced to five years probation, including three months home confinement, three months in a community confinement center, and a $7,000 fine. He pleaded guilty in July 2007 to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act.

Former ITXC Vice President Steven J. Ott, 49, of Princeton, N.J., who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced in July this year to five years probation, including six months in a community confinement center and six months home confinement. He was fined $10,000.

A third defendant in the case, Yaw Osei Amoako, 55, of Hillsborough, N.J., pleaded guilty in September 2006. He was sentenced in August 2007 to 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and a $7,500 fine.

FCPA Guilty Plea For Bribing UK Official (May 9, 2008)

A former co-owner and executive of California-based Pacific Consolidated Industries (PCI) pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Martin Eric Self, 51, of Orange, California pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with violating the FCPA by paying more than $70,000 in bribes to a U.K. Ministry of Defence official. The bribes were intended to secure equipment contracts with the U.K. Royal Air Force. . . .

Self is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on September 29, 2008. Although he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison per count, his plea agreement contemplates a prison term of eight months, subject to the court’s final determination at sentencing.

Former ITXC Execs Settle Civil FCPA Charges (May 8, 2008)

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that on April 18, 2008 it settled civil proceedings under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against Steven J. Ott, Roger Michael Young, and Yaw Osei Amoako. The SEC charged the former executives of ITXC Corp. with violating the antibribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA by bribing senior officials of government-owned telephone companies in Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal, and concealing and falsely reporting the illegal payments.

In settling the SEC’s civil enforcement action, Ott, Young and Amoako each consented to the entry of a final judgment that permanently enjoins them from violating Sections 30A and 13(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 13b2-1 thereunder, and from aiding and abetting violations of Exchange Act Section 13(b)(2)(A) and, with respect to Ott and Young, violations of Exchange Act Section 13(b)(2)(B). Amoako also must pay $188,453 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest. He took kickbacks for some of the bribes he paid to the foreign officials.

Ex-World Bank Manager Sentenced For FCPA Offense (April 28, 2008)

The Justice Department has announced the April 22, 2008 sentencing of former World Bank employee, Ramendra Basu. The Indian national and U.S. permanent resident received 15 months in prison for conspiring to award World Bank contracts to consultants in exchange for kickbacks and for helping a contractor bribe a foreign official in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In addition to the 15- month prison term, Basu was sentenced to two years supervised release and 50 hours of community service. U.S. v. Basu, (Cr. No. 02-475) D.D.C., November 2002.

That’s Entertainment? (December 19, 2007)

Wow! It’s not often — never, in fact — that we can talk about the LA movie scene and tap Variety as one of our sources. But here it is. The Department of Justice just announced that a Los Angeles film executive and his wife were arrested on allegations of making corrupt payments to a Thai government official in order to obtain lucrative contracts to run an international film festival in Bangkok, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Gerald Green, 75, and his wife Patricia Green, 52, both of Los Angeles, were arrested on a criminal complaint filed on Dec. 7, 2007, in federal court in Los Angeles and unsealed today. The complaint alleges that the Greens conspired to pay more than $1.7 million in bribes for the benefit of a government official with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in order to obtain the film festival contract and other contracts with the TAT worth more than $10 million.

[The Greens are awaiting trial.]

Schnitzer’s Former Boss Settles FCPA Charges (December 14, 2007)

The former chairman and ceo of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. resolved charges on December 13, 2007 brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Robert W. Philip, 60, of Portland, Oregon, will pay about $250,000 to settle charges that he violated the antibribery, books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA (Section 30A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1], Section13(b)(2)(A) [15 U.S.C. § 78m(b)(2)(A)], and Section 13(b)(2)(B) [15 U.S.C. § 78m(b)(2)(B)]). He served as Schnitzer’s president beginning in 1991, as its chief executive officer from 2002, and as chairman from 2004. He left the company in May 2005.

Another Former Willbros Executive Pleads Guilty (November 6, 2007)

Jason Edward Steph, 37, who once served as general manager of on-shore operations for a subsidiary of Willbros Group Inc., entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on November 5, 2007. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe officials of the government of Nigeria with more than $6 million — in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Steph, of Sunset, Texas, was indicted on July 19, 2007. He now faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. . . .

Steph also said that in February and March of 2005 he, former Willbros executive Jim Bob Brown, and others arranged for the payment of approximately $1.8 million in cash to government officials in Nigeria. Brown pleaded guilty to a similar charge on Sept. 14, 2006. Steph and Brown are cooperating with the government’s ongoing investigation . . . .

[Steph and Brown are awaiting sentencing.]

Syncor’s Founder Settles FCPA Charges With The SEC (October 1, 2007)

Monty Fu, the founder of Syncor International Corp., agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 27, 2007 to resolve U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges by consenting to a permanent injunction against FCPA books-and-records violations and agreeing to pay a $75,000 civil penalty. Fu was Syncor’s CEO from 1985 to 1989 and board chairman from 1985 to November 6, 2002, when he went on paid leave until he resigned in December 2002.

A.T. Kearney’s Former India President Violated The FCPA (September 26, 2007)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced on September 25, 2007 two settled enforcement actions based on violations of the books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The actions involved the founder and former president of A.T. Kearney Ltd’s India business, Chandramowli Srinivasan, and Kearney’s former parent company, Electronic Data Systems Corp. . . .

For violating Sections 13(b)(5) and 30A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Srinivasan paid a civil penalty of $70,000.

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