As part of its $354 million settlement this week, Alcoa agreed to pay the third biggest disgorgement in FCPA history — $161 million.
What is disgorgement? It’s a remedy, according to our contributing editor Marc Alain Bohn, authorized by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that’s ‘used to deprive wrong-doers of their ill-gotten gains and deter violations of federal securities law.’
The FCPA was enacted in late 1977. But disgorgement didn’t appear in an FCPA enforcement action until 2004, when ABB Ltd disgorged $5.9 million to resolve books and records and internal controls offenses.
Since then the SEC has used disgorgement in more than three-quarters of its FCPA-related enforcement actions.
Here are the current top ten FCPA-related corporate disgorgements (including prejudgment interest):
1. Siemens $350 million in 2008
2. KBR $177 million in 2009
3. Alcoa $161 million in 2014
4. Total S.A. $153 million in 2013
5. Snamprogetti $125 million in 2010
6. Technip $98 million in 2010
7. Daimler $91.4 million in 2010
8. Pfizer $45.2 million in 2012
9. Alcatel-Lucent $45 million in 2010
10. Chevron $25 million in 2007
For comparison, here’s our current list of the top ten FCPA enforcement actions of all time.
___________
Richard L. Cassin is the Publisher and Editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
Comments are closed for this article!