The consequences of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance problem can reverberate inside a company long after it reaches a settlement with the Justice Department. An illustration of that comes from AGA Medical. In early June last year, we reported that the privately-held maker of heart-related products resolved FCPA violations with the DOJ. The company’s self-disclosure to prosecutors included emails to and from a Chinese distributor that left no doubt illegal activity had occurred, such as bribes in China of at least $460,000 to doctors at government-owned hospitals and to patent-office officials.
Just weeks after the settlement, AGA filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, which is still pending. That document (we’re quoting below from Amendment No. 4 to the S-1) talks about the settlement’s actual and potential impact on the company, including its need for a new sales model overseas.
Here’s what it says:
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The terms and effects of our Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice relating to potential violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act may negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
On June 2, 2008, we entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement, or the DPA, with the Department of Justice concerning alleged improper payments that were made by our former independent distributor in China to (1) physicians in Chinese public hospitals in connection with the sale of our products and (2) an official in the Chinese patent office in connection with the approval of our patent applications, in each case, in potential violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or the FCPA. The FCPA makes it unlawful for, among other persons, a U.S. company, acting directly or through an agent, to offer or to make improper payments to any “foreign official” in order to obtain or retain business or to induce such “foreign official” to use his or her influence with a foreign government or instrumentality thereof for such purpose.
As part of the DPA, we consented to the Department of Justice filing a two-count criminal statement of information against us in the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, which was filed on June 3, 2008. The two counts include a conspiracy to violate the FCPA and a substantive violation of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA related to the above-described activities in China. Although we did not plead guilty to that information, we accepted responsibility for the acts of our employees and agents as set forth in the DPA, and we face prosecution under that information, and possibly other charges as well, if we fail to comply with the terms of the DPA. Those terms require us to, for approximately three years, (1) continue to cooperate fully with the Department of Justice on any investigation relating to violations of the FCPA and any and all other matters relating to improper payments, (2) continue to implement a compliance and ethics program designed to detect and prevent violations of the FCPA and other applicable anti-corruption laws, (3) review existing, and if necessary, adopt new controls, policies and procedures designed to ensure that we make and keep fair and accurate books, records and accounts and maintain a rigorous anti-corruption compliance code designed to detect and deter violations of the FCPA and other applicable anti-corruption laws, and (4) retain and pay for an independent monitor to assess and oversee our compliance and ethics program with respect to the FCPA and other applicable anti-corruption laws. The DPA also required us to pay a monetary penalty of $2.0 million. In the fourth quarter of 2007, we had recorded a financial charge of $2.0 million for the potential settlement. The terms of the DPA will remain binding on any successor or merger partner as long as the agreement is in effect.
The effects that compliance with any of the terms of the DPA will have on us are unknown and they may have a material impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The activities of the government-approved independent monitor, as well as the continued implementation of a compliance and ethics program and the adoption of internal controls, policies and procedures to detect and prevent future violations of the FCPA and other applicable anti-corruption laws, may result in increased costs to us and change the way in which we operate, the outcome of which we are unable to predict. For example, implementing and monitoring such compliance procedures in the large number of foreign jurisdictions where we operate can be expensive and time-consuming. As a result of our remediation measures, we may also encounter difficulties conducting business in certain foreign countries and retaining and attracting additional business with certain customers, and we cannot predict the extent of these difficulties.
In addition, entering into the DPA in the United States may adversely affect our operations or result in legal claims against us, which may include claims of special, indirect, derivative or consequential damages.
Our failure to comply with the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice would have a negative impact on our ongoing operations.
As described above, we are subject to a three-year DPA with the Department of Justice. If we comply with the DPA, the Department of Justice has agreed not to prosecute us with respect to the above-described activities in China and, following the term of the DPA, to permanently dismiss the criminal statement of information that is currently pending against us. Accordingly, the DPA could be substantially nullified, and we could be subject to severe sanctions and resumed civil and criminal prosecution, as well as severe fines, penalties and other regulatory sanctions, in the event of any additional violation of the FCPA or any other applicable anti-corruption laws by us or any of our officers, other employees or agents in any jurisdiction or of our failure to otherwise meet any of the terms of the DPA as determined by the Department of Justice in its sole discretion. The claims alleged in the DPA with the Department of Justice only relate to our actions in China as outlined above, and do not relate to any future violations or the discovery of past violations not expressly covered by the DPA. Any breach of the terms of the DPA would also cause damage to our business and reputation, as well as impair investor confidence in our company and result in adverse consequences on our ability to obtain or continue financing for current or future projects.
In addition, although we are not currently restricted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, from participating in federal healthcare programs, any criminal conviction of our company under the FCPA in the future would result in our mandatory exclusion from such programs, and it may lead to debarment from U.S. and foreign government contracts. Any such exclusion or debarment would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to comply with the terms of the DPA is dependent, among other things, on the success of our ongoing compliance and ethics program, including our ability to continue to manage our distributors and agents and supervise, train and retain competent employees, as well as the efforts of our employees to adhere to our compliance and ethics program and the FCPA and other applicable anti-corruption laws. It is possible that, despite our best efforts, additional FCPA issues, or issues under anti-corruption laws of other jurisdictions, could arise in the future. Any failure by us to adopt appropriate compliance and ethics procedures, to ensure that our officers, other employees and agents comply with the FCPA and other applicable anti-corruption laws and regulations in all jurisdictions in which we operate or to otherwise comply with any term of the DPA would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In certain international markets, we have converted, or are in the process of converting, to a direct sales force model from a distributor-based sales model. Our business, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected by the transition to a new sales model.
In August 2006, we negotiated an early termination with one of our international distributors, and we have since then undertaken to distribute our products in such distributor’s country through our direct sales force. We also gave notice of termination to a second distributor and began operations in April 2008 through our direct sales force in such distributor’s country. We gave notice of termination to a third distributor and began operations in July 2008 through our direct sales force in such distributor’s country. In addition, we gave notice of termination to five other distributors and expect to begin operations in January 2009 through our direct sales force in these distributors’ countries. We are also currently assessing the viability of distributing our products directly in other international markets. We have limited experience with direct sales of our products in international markets and, therefore, may not obtain the financial benefits that we expect. In addition, we may experience delays in implementing our direct sales force model due to the difficulty of hiring a sales force, establishing relationships with physicians, complying with local regulatory requirements, and other factors, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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