Embraer expands investigation

The world’s third largest commercial aircraft manufacturer said its FCPA investigation has expanded to two more countries.

In 2010, Brazil-based Embraer S.A. disclosed an investigation focused on three countries.

Last week, Embraer said the investigation is still in its early stages and it’s too early for the company to know or talk about what might happen.

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Here’s the full FCPA disclosure from Embraer S.A.’s Form 6-K (Report of Foreign Private Issuer) filed with the SEC on March 13:

We received a subpoena from the SEC in September, 2010, which inquired about certain operations concerning sales of aircraft abroad. In response to this SEC-issued subpoena and associated inquiries into the possibility of non-compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, we retained outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation on transactions carried out in three specific countries.

Further, the Company has voluntarily expanded the scope of the internal investigation to include two additional countries and has reported on those matters. The investigation remains ongoing and we, through our outside counsel, continue to cooperate fully with the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice, which are the authorities responsible for reviewing the matter. The Company, with the support of our outside counsel, has concluded that it is still not possible to estimate the duration, scope or results of the internal investigation or government’s review. In the event that the authorities take action against us or the parties enter into an agreement to settle the matter, we may be required to pay substantial fines and/or to incur other sanctions. The Company, based upon the opinion of our outside counsel, believes that, there is no basis for estimating reserves or quantifying any possible contingency.