2010 FCPA Enforcement Index

Companies settling FCPA-related charges in 2010 paid a record $1.8 billion in financial penalties to the DOJ and SEC. That compares with $641 million in 2009 and $890 million in 2008, the year of Siemens’ $800 million settlement, still the largest ever.

Of the 23 corporate enforcement actions resolved in 2010, eight are now among the ten biggest FCPA settlements of all time. They are BAE, Snamprogetti/ENI, Technip, Daimler, Alcatel-Lucent, Panalpina, ABB, and Pride.

BAE’s $400 million settlement was the year’s biggest and the third most expensive of all time.

More FCPA history was made when seven companies reached a simultaneous settlement with U.S. enforcement agencies. Panalpina, Shell, Transocean, Pride, GlobalSantaFe, Tidewater, and Noble paid a combined $236.5 million to resolve their related cases.

Among individuals on the 2010 enforcement index, Charles Jumet received the longest sentence ever handed down in an FCPA-related case — more than seven years. In 2010, the first husband and wife were convicted in an FCPA case. Hollywood producers Gerald and Patricia Green received lenient six-month prison sentences but were also hit with ruinous million-dollar forfeiture orders. 

One of the longest pending FCPA prosecutions sputtered to an end in 2010 when oil consultant James Giffen — first arrested in 2003 — was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor tax charge, for which the judge imposed no punishment.

A surprise in 2010 was the enforcement action against GE — a company generally acknowledged to have one of the strongest compliance programs anywhere. It paid $23.4 million to resolve civil charges related to kickbacks under the U.N.’s oil-for-food program —  proving once again that no company is immune from FCPA compliance problems.

Our 2009 FCPA Enforcement Index can be found here and our 2008 index here.

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The 2010 FCPA Enforcement Index

Organizations (countries involved) U.S. enforcement agencies / financial penalties including fines, disgorgement, and interest:

ABB Ltd (Mexico, Iraq, U.N. oil for food program) DOJ, SEC / $58.3 million

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (Costa Rica, Honduras, Malaysia, and Taiwan) DOJ, SEC / $137 million

Alliance One International Inc. (Kyrgyzstan, China, Greece, and Indonesia) DOJ, SEC / $19.45 million

BAE Systems plc (Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Hungary) DOJ / $400 million

Daimler AG (Russia, China, Croatia) DOJ, SEC / $185 million

General Electric Company (Iraq, U.N. oil for food program) SEC / $23.4 million

GlobalSantaFe Corp. (Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea) SEC / $5.9 million

Innospec (Iraq, U.N. oil for food program) DOJ, SEC /  $25.3 million

Lindsey Manufacturing Company (Mexico) DOJ / indicted for conspiracy to violate and violating the FCPA

Mercator Corporation (Kazakhstan) DOJ / $32,000

Natco (Kazakhstan) SEC / $65,000

Nexus Technologies, Inc. (Vietnam) DOJ / corporate dissolution

Noble (Nigeria) DOJ, SEC / $8.09 million

Panalpina (Angola, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Russia, Turkmenistan) DOJ, SEC / $81.8 million

Pride (Mexico, Venezuela) DOJ, SEC / $56.1 million

RAE Systems (China) DOJ, SEC $2.9 million

Shell (Nigeria) DOJ, SEC / $48.1 million

Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V. / ENI S.p.A (Nigeria) DOJ, SEC $365 million

Technip S.A. (Nigeria) DOJ, SEC / $338 million

Tidewater (Nigeria, Azerbaijan) DOJ, SEC / $15.65 million

Transocean (Nigeria) DOJ, SEC / $20.6 million

Universal Corporation (Malawi, Mozambique) DOJ, SEC / $8.98 million

Veraz Networks, Inc. (China, Vietnam) SEC / $300,000

Individuals indicted, tried, or sentenced (includes cases of money-laundering only in FCPA-related actions):

Angela Maria Gomez Aguilar (Grupo Internacional de Asesores S.A.) DOJ, indicted (money laundering) trial pending

Robert Antoine (Telecommunications D’Haiti) DOJ, sentenced to 48 months in prison, $1,852,209 in restitution and forfeiture of $1,580,771 (money-laundering case)

Bobby Benton (Pride International Inc.) SEC, civil penalty of $40,000

Richard Bistrong (Armor Holdings Inc) DOJ, guilty plea, sentencing pending

Jim Bob Brown (Willbros), DOJ, sentenced to one year and one day in prison and fined $17,500

Manuel Caceres (LatinNode) DOJ, charged with bribing Hondutel officials. Facing one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, 12 counts of violating the FCPA, five counts of money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering

Wojciech Chodan, (KBR) DOJ, pleaded guilty, sentencing pending

Juan Diaz (J.D. Locator Services) DOJ, sentenced to 57 months in prison, forfeiture of $1,028,851 and payment of $73,824 in restitution

Bobby Jay Elkin Jr. (Dimon Inc, now Alliance One International) DOJ, SEC, sentenced to three years probation and a $5,000 criminal fine, SEC permanent injunction

Jean Fourcand (Fourcand Enterprises Inc.) DOJ, gulty plea to money laundering.

James H. Giffen (Merator Corporation) DOJ, no punishment

Jorge Granados (LatinNode) DOJ, charged with bribing Hondutel officials. Facing one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, 12 counts of violating the FCPA, five counts of money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering

Gerald Green (Artist Design Corp) DOJ, sentenced to six months in jail and six months home confinement, ordered to jointly pay $250,000 in restitution and forfeiture of $1,049,465

Patricia Green (Artist Design Corp) DOJ, sentenced to six months in jail and six months home confinement, ordered to jointly pay $250,000 in restitution and forfeiture of $1,049,465

Charles Paul Edward Jumet (Ports Engineering Consultants Corporation) DOJ, sentenced to 87 months in prison and fined $15,000

Steve K. Lee (Lindsey Manufacturing) DOJ, indicted, trial pending

Keith E. Lindsey (Lindsey Manufacturing Company) DOJ, indicted, trial pending

Joseph Lukas (Nexus Technologies Inc.) DOJ, sentenced to two years probation and fined $1,000

Baxter J. Myers (Dimon Inc, now Alliance One International) SEC, $40,000 civil penalty and permanent injunction 

Ousama M. Naaman (former agent of Innospec) DOJ, SEC, pleaded guilty, criminal sentencing pending, SEC disgorgement of $810,076 plus prejudgment interest of $67,030, and a civil penalty of $438,038

An Nguyen (Nexus Technologies Inc.) DOJ, sentenced to nine months in prison

Kim Nguyen (Nexus Technologies Inc.) DOJ, sentenced to two years probation and fined $20,000

Nam Nguyen (Nexus Technologies Inc.) DOJ, sentenced to 16 months in prison

Enrique Faustino Aguilar Noriega (Grupo Internacional de Asesores S.A.) DOJ, indicted, fugitive

 Thomas G. Reynolds (Dimon Inc, now Alliance One International) SEC, $40,000 civil penalty and permanent injunction)

Flavio Ricotti (Control Components Inc.) DOJ, extradited from Germany, trial pending

Shot-Show Indictments, DOJ, all defendants indicted trial pending

•    Daniel Alvirez, 32, Arkansas

•    Lee Allen Tolleson, 25, Arkansas

•    Helmie Ashiblie, 44, Woodbridge, Va.

•    Andrew Bigelow, 40, Sarasota, Fla.

•    R. Patrick Caldwell, 61, Sunrise, Fla.

•    Stephen Gerard Giordanella, 50, Sunrise, Fla.

•    Yochanan R. Cohen, a/k/a Yochi Cohen, 47, San Francisco

•    Haim Geri, 50, North Miami Beach, Fla.

•    Amaro Goncalves, 49, Springfield, Mass.

•    John Gregory Godsey, a/k/a Greg Godsey, 37, Decatur, Ga.

•    Mark Frederick Morales, 37, Decatur, Ga.

•    Saul Mishkin, 38, Aventura, Fla.

•    John M. Mushriqui, 28, Upper Darby, Penn.

•    Jeana Mushriqui, 30, Upper Darby, Penn.

•    David R. Painter, 56, U.K.

•    Lee M. Wares, 43, U.K.

•    Pankesh Patel, 43, U.K.

•    Ofer Paz, 50, Israel

•    Jonathan M. Spiller, 58, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

•    Israel Weisler, a/k/a Wayne Weisler, 63, Stearns, Ky.

•    Michael Sachs, 66, Stearns, Ky.

•    John Benson Wier III, 46, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Jason Edward Steph (Willbros) DOJ, sentenced to 15 months and fined $2,000

Joe Summers (Pride) SEC, a civil penalty of $25,000

David Turner (former agent of Innospec) SEC, disgorgement of $40,000

John Webster Warwick (Ports Engineering Consultants Corporation) DOJ, sentenced to 37 months in prison

Tommy L. Williams (Dimon Inc, now Alliance One International) SEC, permanent injunction

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If we’ve missed any names that should be included in the 2010 index, please let us know.