Mining and commodities giant lands on the FCPA Blog top ten list

When Switzerland-based Glencore paid the DOJ $700 million last week to settle widespread FCPA offenses, it earned a place on our FCPA top ten list, replacing a French bank and leaving Goldman Sachs as the only other bank currently on the list.

In Glencore’s settlement, the DOJ imposed $429 million in criminal penalties and forfeiture of $272 million. The plea agreements also require Glencore to retain a compliance monitor for three years.

Glencore plc replaces Société Générale S.A., the previous tenth-spot holder, which paid $585 million in 2018.

Total FCPA penalties — since the Act’s inception in 1977 —  are now over $24 billion.

With Glencore’s resolution, it now takes at least at least $700 million to crack the top ten, and five of the top ten resolutions have reached $1 billion or more.

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Here are the ten biggest FCPA cases of all time based on penalties and disgorgement assessed in the U.S. enforcement documents:

1. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (United States): $3.3 billion in 2020
2. Airbus SE (Netherlands/France): $2.09 billion in 2020.
3. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (Brazil): $1.78 billion in 2018.
4. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Sweden): $1.06 billion in 2019.
5. Telia Company AB (Sweden): $1.01 billion in 2017.
6. MTS (Russia): $850 million in 2019.
7. Siemens (Germany): $800 million in 2008.
8. VimpelCom (Netherlands): $795 million in 2016.
9. Alstom (France): $772 million in 2014.
10. Glencore plc (Switzerland): $700 million in 2022.