TSKJ: The FCPA’s Whale

In April this year, the final TSKJ partner, Japan’s JGC, paid $218.8 million in a plea deal with the DOJ. It was the biggest FCPA case in 2011 (so far) and landed sixth on our all-time top ten list.

The TSKJ settlements now make up four of the six biggest FCPA cases of all time. Together, they’re twice the size of Siemens’ $800 million settlement, still the biggest single-company FCPA enforcement action.

In March, Jeffrey Tesler, an agent who delivered TSKJ’s bribes to Nigerian officials, pleaded guilty to an FCPA conspiracy and a substantive count. As part of his plea, Tesler paid $149 million, the biggest FCPA forfeiture by an individual.

The TSKJ enforcement action started in September 2008. Jack Stanley, KBR’s former CEO, pleaded guilty in Houston to a two-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to commit mail and wire fraud.

Stanley cooperated with prosecutors. Over the next three years, four companies and two more individuals pleaded guilty, eventually paying $1.65 billion in criminal and civil penalties and forfeited assets.

Stanley and KBR had led the TSKJ joint venture. Between 1995 and 2004, it paid $182 million in bribes to Nigerian government officials, winning four contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria worth more than $6 billion.

After Stanley’s guilty plea, KBR and its one-time parent Halliburton paid $579 million in 2009 to resolve criminal and civil FCPA charges. In 2010, Italy’s Snamprogetti paid $365 million to U.S. enforcement agencies, and France’s Technip paid $338 million. Then in 2011, JGC paid $218.8 million.

Stanley, 66, received a preliminary sentence of 84 months in prison and was ordered to make a restitution payment of $10.8 million. His jail term hasn’t started yet and is subject to review based on his cooperation. Final sentencing is set for February 3. The feds’ $1.65 billion payday is sure to help him.

The agent Tesler, 62, is scheduled to be sentenced on February 2.

Wojciech Chodan, 72, a former KBR manager in the U.K. who pleaded guilty in December 2010 to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, is also set to be sentenced on February 2.