Juniper’s 52 words

Juniper Networks, Inc. Thursday revealed a previously undisclosed FCPA investigation by the DOJ and SEC.

Its Form 10-Q filed with the SEC used just 52 words to break the news, one of the shortest FCPA disclosures on record.

Despite the brevity, Juniper’s shares ‘fell 5.6 percent to $20.92 at the close [Thursday] in New York, the biggest decline since April 24,’ Bloomberg said.

California-based Juniper makes networking equipment.

More than half of its $4.5 billion in revenues last year came from sales outside the U.S.

Juniper’s biggest foreign customer is China Mobile Ltd.

Bloomber said,

In many instances, companies are investigated under the FCPA because distributors or resellers don’t have strong internal controls to prevent bribery, according to Jayson Noland, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. in San Francisco.

China Mobile’s former vice chairman, Zhang Chunjiang, received a suspended death sentence in 2011 for taking more than $1.2 million in bribes.

Earlier this year, five China Mobile managers were questioned by police, including a high-level executive from the Tianjin branch of the state-owned telecoms giant.

Juniper, which trades on the NYSE under the symbol JNPR, hasn’t been named or implicated in the China Mobile probes.

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Here’s the full FCPA disclosure from Juniper Networks’ Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 8, 2013:

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice are conducting investigations into possible violations by the Company of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Company is cooperating with these agencies regarding these matters. The Company is unable to predict the duration, scope or outcome of these investigations.

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Richard L. Cassin is the Publisher and Editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.