"FCPA Sanctions: Too Big To Debar?"

Debarment (or lack thereof) is a periodic topic on this site.

Previously, I covered "Siemens ... The Year After" (here), a post that highlighted in the year after resolution of the Siemens record-setting December 2008 FCPA matter, the U.S. government continued to do substantial business with the company it charged with engaging in a pattern of bribery “unprecedented in scale and geographic scope.”

In September 2010, I highlighted (here) the FBI's $40 million contract with BAE - months after the FBI participated in resolution of the $400 million FCPA related enforcement action against the company.

In my November 2010 testimony (here) before the U.S. Senate, I stated as follows. "In order for the DOJ’s deterrence message to be completely heard and understood egregious instances of corporate bribery that legitimately satisfy the elements of an FCPA anti-bribery violation involving high-level executives and/or board participation should be followed with debarment proceedings against the offender."

This testimony prompted then Senator Arlen Specter (who chaired the hearing) to ask me several follow-up questions for the record relating to debarment. (See here for the Q&A's). Senator Christopher Coons (who also participated in the November 2010 hearing) also asked debarment follow-up questions of the DOJ.

As highlighted last week (here), the DOJ is opposed to a "mandatory, conduct-based, debarment remedy for companies that engage in egregious bribery." As noted in the prior post, the DOJ's responses seemed anchored in self-interest in that such a remedy would lessen its FCPA caseload, would make its job more difficult, and would take away it flexibility and leverage and resolving FCPA enforcement actions.

Enter Dru Stevenson (Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law - here and a past contributor to the site) and Nick Wagoner (a law student at South Texas College of Law).

Stevenson and Wagoner recently released a yet to be published article titled "FCPA Sanctions: Too Big to Debar?" (See here).

The authors (who can be reached at dstevenson@stcl.edu and nicholas.wagoner@gmail.com) provide this article summary.

"Despite the dramatic escalation in corporate fines and imprisonment imposed under the FCPA in recent years, a particularly lethal sanction for combating foreign corruption remains unused—suspension or debarment of prosecuted entities from future contracts with the U.S. Many of the firms caught bribing foreign officials have extensive contracts with a number of domestic federal agencies; meaning debarment may be a particularly devastating penalty both for the government contractor and the agency it transacts business with.

This begs the question: are certain private contractors too big to debar? As this Article demonstrates, it appears so. Certain federal agencies have become highly dependent on a handful of private firms responsible for satisfying the vast majority of government contracts. Because of the potential “collateral consequences” that may result from the collapse of a debarred contractor, these firms have enjoyed bailouts from agency officials who refuse to sanction corrupt practices through suspension or debarment. If ridding foreign markets of corruption truly is a top priority of the U.S., it seems both unfair and imprudent for federal agencies to continue awarding lucrative, multibillion-dollar contracts to firms recently prosecuted for fraudulently obtaining such contracts overseas.

This situation leads to the jaded viewpoint that paying fines when caught bribing foreign officials has “simply become a cost of doing business.” To help illuminate these concerns and lend support to the thesis, this Article examines the third largest FCPA-related enforcement actions to date: the BAE Systems case. On March 1, 2010, BAE Systems paid approximately $400 million in fines for its corrupt practices abroad. In the 365 days that followed however, BAE was awarded U.S. contracts in excess of $58 billion dollars. The U.S.’s refusal to debar BAE because of the risk of “collateral consequences” provides a case study of the benefits and drawbacks to deterring foreign corruption through suspension and debarment. This Article concludes that the U.S. must begin to diversify its portfolio of federal contractors so that prosecutors may leverage the legitimate threat of suspension and debarment to more effectively deter foreign corruption."

Senate Hearing Follow-Up

On November 30, 2010, the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs of the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing "Examining Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act." (See here).

During the hearing, Senator Specter asked if I "would be willing to give [the committee] a hand" as to certain issues.

Shortly after the hearing, I received and responsed to five follow-up questions from Senator Specter for the hearing record. The questions related to the Siemens and BAE enforcement actions; debarment issues; and what I termed "bribery, yet no bribery" in my "Facade of FCPA Enforcement" article and my prepared statement. (see here and here).

With the permission of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I provide the responses here.

Siemens Related News

Today is the two year anniversary of the Siemens FCPA enforcement action, the largest ever in terms of fines and penalties - $800 million in the U.S. For last year's post on the one year anniversary see here.

This post discusses recent Siemens related news.

First, a recent Spiegel Online article about continued U.S. interest in individual prosecutions.

Second, and on a much different topic, Siemens' recent funding of various anti-corruption programs and initiatives pursuant to its World Bank settlement.

Individual Prosecutions

It probably is not the best time to be a former Siemens employee or executive somehow connected with the conduct at issue in 2008 FCPA enforcement action - the largest ever in terms of fines and penalties. Among other things, a November 30th Congressional hearing (here) was devoted (at least in part) to the issue of why no Siemens employees or executives have been charged in connection with the FCPA enforcement action (see here and here),

On this issue, Spiegel Online (here) is reporting that "US authorities are now investigating" former Siemens CEO Heinrich von Pierer, and "other top managers" in connection with the bribery scandal.

The December 9th article states that "a few weeks ago, officials with the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission questioned the current supervisory board chairman, Gerhard Cromme, as well as former auditors from the era of large-scale corruption." According to the article, U.S. investigators "were due to return to Germany this week."

Spiegel reports that U.S. investigators are specifically interested in "Pierer and Uriel Sharef, the former head of the power plant division, who was also in charge of the company's South American business" and "Siemens projects in Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia."

The Siemens enforcement action did include related enforcement actions against Siemens S.A. (Argentina) and Siemens S.A. (Venezuela).

In the Argentina matter (here), the DOJ alleged that Siemens entities made over $31 million in corrupt payments in exchange for favorable business treatment in connection with various government infrastructure projects, including a national identity card project, in Argentina.

In the Venezuela matter (here), the DOJ alleged that Siemens entities made over $18 million in corrupt payments in exchange for favorable business treatment in connection with two major mass transit projects in Venezuela.

The Spiegel article documents Senator Arlen Specter's May 2010 exchange with Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer about the Siemens matter (see here), but does not mention the above referenced Congressional chaired by Senator Specter.

Doing Good, After Doing Bad

In July 2009, after resolution of the U.S. FCPA enforcement action, Siemens and the World Bank agreed to a settlement (see here) in connection with "corruption in a project in Russia involving a Siemens subsidiary." The settlement included "a commitment by Siemens to pay $100 million over the next 15 years to support anti-corruption work."

Last week, Siemens announced (here) the first wave of funding. As noted in the release, $40 million will be distributed to more than 30 initiatives in over 20 countries. (For a list of projects see here).

The release states as follows:

"Projects that will be supported by this initial tranche include assisting the Brazilian organization Instituto Ethos in ensuring the transparent award of the infrastructure contracts for the Football World Cup 2014 and the Olympic Games 2016 in Brazil. In Europe, the newly founded International Anti-Corruption Academy is receiving funding for research and teaching. This Vienna-based international organization was set up to train anti-corruption experts from all over the world.

Other initiatives will be supported in the following countries: Angola, Brazil, China, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia, the Slovak Republic, South Africa, the Czech Republic, the U.S. and Vietnam and various Middle Eastern states."

This & That

A bit of catch up with today's post which discusses the recent sentence of Juan Diaz in the continuing Haiti Teleco saga (including an interesting post-enforcement action twist) and a DOJ release that flew under the radar.

Juan Diaz

Juan Diaz was recently sentenced to 57 months in prison after previously pleading guilty to a one-count information charging him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering. (See here for the DOJ release). As noted in the release, Diaz was also ordered to: (i) serve three years of supervised release following his prison term; (ii) pay $73,824 in restitution; and (iii) forfeit $1,028,851.

In May 2009, (see here) Diaz pleaded guilty for his role in an improper payment scheme involving employees of Haiti Teleco, an alleged state-owned national telecommunications company. In the DOJ's view, that would make the Director of International Relations and the General Director of Haiti Teleco, persons Diaz and others allegedly bribed, Haitian "foreign officials" under the FCPA.

The interesting twist is this.

If Diaz bribed these same employees today, he would be bribing (presumably in the DOJ's view) not Haitian "foreign officials" but Vietnamese "foreign officials."

Why?

Because in May, Viettel, a telecommunications company run by Vietnam's military, purchased a 60% stake in Haiti Teleco. (See here).

The 57 month sentence Diaz received is similar to the 60 month FCPA sentence Charles Jumet received in April (see here). Jumet was sentenced to 87 months after pleading guilty to a two-count criminal information charging conspiracy to violate the FCPA and making false statements to federal agents. The false statements portion of the sentence was 20 months.

Civil Forfeiture Action Against Properties Owned by Former President of Taiwan

In July, the DOJ issued a release (see here) about a civil forfeiture complaint it filed against certain U.S. properties "that represent a portion of illegal bribes paid to the former president of Taiwan and his wife."

With Attorney General Eric Holder's recent announcement of the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative (see here), the release should be of interest to those who follow this initiative and the general issue of asset recovery.

Bribe recipients can not be prosecuted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, but U.S. based assets (or other assets that flow through U.S. financial institutions) of bribe recipients can be subject to U.S. legal proceedings under other laws.

As noted in this post from November 2009, Attorney General Holder has called asset recovery a "global imperative" and announced a "redoubled commitment on behalf of the United States Department of Justice to recover" funds obtained by foreign officials through bribery.

The prior post discussed the January 2009 civil forfeiture action the DOJ filed in the aftermath of the Siemens enforcement action against bank accounts located in Singapore in the names of Zulfikar Ali, Fazel Selim, and ZASZ Trading and Consulting Pte Ltd. ("ZASZ") (see here). According to the DOJ's complaint (see here), these accounts were used by Siemens and another company to bribe foreign officials in violation of the FCPA, specifically Arafat Rahman ("Koko"), the son of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The DOJ alleges that the illicit funds in these accounts flowed through U.S. financial institutions thereby subjecting them to U.S. jurisdiction.

Similarly, in January 2010, the DOJ unsealed a criminal indictment against Juthamas Siriwan and Jittisopa Siriwan, the foreign official bribe recipient of the Green's improper payments and her daughter. See here. Among other things, the indictment seeks forfeiture of approximately $1.7 million.

Thus, the DOJ's July announcement that it is pursuing U.S. based assets of the former president of Taiwan and his wife very much continues a trend.

According to the DOJ release:

"The former president and his wife were convicted in Taiwan on Sept. 11, 2009, for bribery, embezzlement and money laundering. They are currently sentenced to 20 years in prison. Their convictions were upheld on appeal and are now pending before the Supreme Court in Taiwan. [...] The former president and his wife are also currently under indictment in Taiwan for additional alleged acts of graft and money laundering."

Director John Morton of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stated that the enforcement action "serves as a warning to those corrupt foreign officials who abuse their power for personal financial gain and then attempt to place those funds in the U.S. financial system" and that "ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations agents will continue to work with our law enforcement partners both here and abroad to investigate and prosecute those involved in such illicit activities and hold corrupt foreign officials accountable by denying them the enjoyment of their ill ?gotten gains.”

What appears to make this recent civil forfeiture action different than the previously filed Siemens-related forfeiture action and the previously filed Siriwan enforcement action is that the bribe payor may be beyond the reach of the FCPA.

According to the DOJ release, the entity paying the bribes to the president of Taiwan and his wife was Yuanta Securities Co. Ltd. (YSC). The release notes that YSC "was attempting to increase its ownership share of Fuhwa Financial Holding Company Limited" and that "YSC paid a bribe of 200 million New Taiwan dollars, or approximately $6 million U.S. dollars, [...] to ensure that the authorities on Taiwan would not interfere with its acquisition of additional shares and to attempt to establish a relationship with the head of the authorities on Taiwan."

Neither YSC (here), nor its parent company, Yuanta Financial Holdings, appear to be U.S. issuers. Under 78dd-3 of the FCPA, foreign companies can be subject to the FCPA's jurisdiction. However, this prong of the FCPA requires a U.S. nexus. A quick scan of the forfeiture complaint does not suggest a U.S. nexus in terms of making the bribe payments - although the complaint clearly does allege a U.S. nexus once the payments were received and used by the former president of Taiwan and his wife.

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Curious as to what happened in the above referenced Siemens-related enforcement action? In April 2010, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates granted the DOJ's motion for default judgment and judgment of forfeiture against the subject properties.

What's happening in the Siriwan enforcement action? According to the docket, nothing since the indictment was unsealed in January 2010.

Six Months For The Greens ... Plus The Friday Roundup

In September 2009, Gerald and Patricia Green were found guilty by a federal jury of substantive FCPA violations, conspiracy to violate the FCPA, and other charges. According to the DOJ release (see here) the Los Angeles-area film executives were found guilty of engaging in "sophisticated bribery scheme that enabled the defendants to obtain a series of Thai government contracts, including valuable contracts to manage and operate Thailand’s yearly film festival."

As noted in the DOJ release:

"The conspiracy and FCPA charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and each of the money laundering counts carries a maximum penalty of up to 20years in prison. The false subscription of a U.S. income tax return carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of not more than $100,000."

Sentencing was originally set for December 17, 2009, was delayed several times, and, at one point, was removed from the calendar altogether (see here).

U.S. District Court Judge George Wu of the Central District of California reportedly wanted to learn more about other FCPA sentences as well as Mr. Green's health issues.

The DOJ requested a 10 year sentence for both Gerald and Patricia Green.

The DOJ stated that the "court must decline defendants' remarkable invitation to join the wholesale speculation of FCPA 'pundits' as to whether corporate settlements are 'shielding' to corporate executives from punishment."

In closing, the DOJ urged the court to "disregard defendants' efforts to obscure the landscape of FCPA sentencing, which generally reflects significant prison terms for convicted individuals."

According to this report, Judge Wu yesterday sentenced the Greens, before a packed courtroom, to six months in prison, followed by three years probation (six months of which must be served as home confinement).

According to the report, Judge Wu "also set a restitution figure of $250,000" but "if the Greens, who have had their accounts frozen and assets seized since being arrested in 2007, can prove that none of the $1.8 million they paid in bribes to Thai officials can be recovered, then they will only have to pay $3,000 in restitution."

Does the "landscape of FCPA sentencing" truly reflect "significant prison terms" as stated by the DOJ?

True, any prison term is significant for a defendant and his/her family and friends.

But with a top sentence of 60 months (Charles Jumet - see here), the 366 day sentence for Frederic Bourke in November 2009 (see here), the 15 month sentence for Jason Edward Steph and the 366 day sentence for Jim Bob Brown both in January 2010 (see here) and now the 6 month sentence for the Greens - is this yet another instance in which DOJ's FCPA rhetoric does not match reality?

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H-P news that does not involve its former CEO, what others are saying about the Giffen Gaffe, SciClone's stock drop, and Siemens $1 billion customer ... it's all here in the Friday roundup.

H-P Inquiry Escalates

According to a story in today's Wall Street Journal by David Crawford, the DOJ "has asked Hewlett-Packard Co. to provide a trove of internal records as part of an international investigation into allegations that H-P executives paid bribes in Russia, according to people familiar with the investigations."

According to the story, the DOJ request "came after German prosecutors complained H-P had refused to provide them with all of the records they requested" and after "H-P initially argued that the German request for bookkeeping records, some of which are five years old, imposed an 'undue hardship' on the company."

The article indicates that the DOJ "asked H-P to comply voluntarily with the request and hasn't subpoenaed the records" and that "H-P has yet to provide some records" but is "cooperating with the investigations." According to H-P, the investigation
"involves people that have largely left the company and matters that happened as much as seven years ago."

What Others Are Saying About Giffen

It's been one week since the Giffen Gaffe (see here).

Here is what others are saying about the enforcement action that began with charges that James Giffen made "more than $78 million in unlawful payments to two senior officials of the Republic of Kazakhstan in connection with six separate oil transactions", yet ended with a misdemeanor tax violation against Giffen and an FCPA anti-bribery charge against a functionally defunct entity (The Mercator Corporation -in which Giffen was the principal shareholder, board chairman, and chief executive officer) focused merely on two snowmobiles.

Scott Horton, writing at Harper's Magazine (see here) noted that "[t]he outcome is a huge embarrassment to federal prosecutors, who had invested a decade in resources in the effort to convict Giffen of FCPA and related violations."

Horton, who has been following the case for years, highlighted how the "case has been the focus of political manipulation concerns for years" and closed with this paragraph:

"Kazakhs have long claimed that their government’s strategy of resolving the Giffen case by using the right levers with the American administration–a process that led them to hire former attorneys general and high-profile retired prosecutors, private investigators, and public-relations experts–would be successful. The outcome in the Giffen case appears to ratify that view. The notion of an independent, politically insulated criminal-justice administration in America has just taken another severe hit."

Steve LeVine, author of The Oil and The Glory page at Foreign Policy, noted (here) that the Giffen resolution is "a considerable comedown for the federal government" and that Giffen's lawyer "understood correctly that he could set up a collision between the Justice Department and the CIA in which the latter would probably prevail."

The FCPA and Stock Price

What affect, if any, does an FCPA disclosure or resolution have on a company's stock price?

It's an issue I've explored before (see here) and best I can tell the evidence is inconclusive and the answer is - it depends.

In the case of a company that does business almost exclusively in China disclosing an FCPA inquiry focused on China, the answer is that disclosure of the FCPA inquiry matters - and quite a bit.

On Monday, SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Delaware company based in California, disclosed in a 10-Q filing (here) as follows:

"On August 5, 2010 SciClone was contacted by the SEC and advised that the SEC has initiated a formal, non-public investigation of SciClone. In connection with this investigation, the SEC issued a subpoena to SciClone requesting a variety of documents and other information. The subpoena requests documents relating to a range of matters including interactions with regulators and government-owned entities in China, activities relating to sales in China and documents relating to certain company financial and other disclosures. On August 6, 2010, the Company received a letter from the DOJ indicating that the DOJ was investigating Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues in the pharmaceutical industry generally, and had received information about the Company’s practices suggesting possible violations."

SciClone's business is focused primarily on China with 90+% of its revenue derived from China sales. Thus, it is not surprising that an FCPA inquiry focused on China had a material impact on the company's stock price.

As noted in this Reuters story, news of the FCPA inquiry sent SciClone's shares, at one point, down 41% to a 52 week low.

Siemens $1 Billion Customer

In December 2008, Siemens agreed to pay $800 million in combined U.S. fines and penalties to settle FCPA charges for a pattern of bribery the DOJ termed “unprecedented in scale and geographic scope.” According to the DOJ, for much of Siemens’ operations around the world, “bribery was nothing less than standard operating procedure.”

The Siemens enforcement action remains the largest FCPA settlement ever (even though Siemens itself was not charged with FCPA anti-bribery violations).

On the one year anniversary of the Siemens enforcement action, I ran a post - Siemens - The Year After (see here) which highlighted how the U.S. government continues to do substantial business with the company it charged with engaging in a pattern of bribery “unprecedented in scale and geographic scope.”

This U.S. government business has helped Siemens outperform its competitors in a difficult recessionary environment and much of the company’s recent success is the direct result of government stimulus programs around the world.

Using Recovery.gov (a U.S. government website designed “to allow taxpayers to see precisely what entities receive Recovery money ..”), I highlighted how several Siemens’ business units have been awarded several dozen contracts funded by U.S. taxpayer stimulus dollars.

It is against this backdrop that Paul Glader's recent piece in the Wall Street Journal "Siemens Seeks More U.S Orders" caught my eye.

According to the article, Siemens Corp. (the U.S. division of Siemens) currently brings in about $1 billion a year from the U.S. government, a figure the division hopes to double by 2015.

Eric Spiegel, chief executive of Siemens Corp., is quoted in the article as saying: "[o]ne of the beauties of the federal-government spending is it didn't drop off during the recession."

To that, I'll add that one of the unfortunate beauties of engaging in bribery the U.S. government terms “unprecedented in scale and geographic scope" is no slow down in U.S. government contracts in the immediate aftermath of the enforcement action.

It's one of the FCPA greatest headscratchers - FCPA violaters are and remain some of the U.S. government's biggest suppliers and contracting partners.

As I've noted in numerous prior posts, efforts are underway to try to change this. See here, here and here.

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A good weekend to all.

The Holder Memo and FCPA Enforcement

Attorney General Eric Holder recently issued a memo (here) regarding "Department Policy on Charging and Sentencing."

There is little that is new is this memo; in fact Holder states that the purpose of the memo is "to reaffirm the guidance" provided by Title 9 of the U.S. Attorneys' Manual, Chapter 27" (see here) - a manual which has "guided federal prosecutors" for "nearly three decades."

Nor is there anything FCPA specific in the memo.

Yet the memo, and the broad pronouncements Holder makes, call into question whether several recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions contradict the guidance the Attorney General has reaffirmed.

In the memo, Holder states - "persons who commit similar crimes and have similar culpability should, to the extent possible, be treated similarly."

Under the law, "persons" include both individuals and business entities, including corporations.

However, as explored in this post, a two-tiered justice system has seemingly developed in FCPA enforcement.

Certain corporations in certain industries, most often selling certain things to certain customers, can seemingly violate the FCPA's anti-bribery provisions with very little consequence. In fact, with increasingly frequency, such companies are not even charged with FCPA antibribery violations and/or may not even have to plead guilty to anything. See here for the recent Daimler, here for the recent BAE, and here for the Siemens "bribery, yet no bribery" enforcement actions.

On the other hand, the DOJ seeks long prison sentences for individuals such as Charles Paul Edward Jumet, who make payments that pale in comparison to the payments made by the above corporations. In doing so, the DOJ usually trots out its get tough language (i.e. "bribery isn't just a cost of doing business overseas [... but] a serious crime that the U.S. government is intent on enforcing").

The Holder memo also states "in accordance with long-standing principle, a federal prosecutor should ordinarly charge 'the most serious offense that is consistent with the nature of the defendant's conduct, and that is likely to result in a sustainable conviction."

Again, reference is made to the Daimler, BAE, and Siemens enforcement actions.

In Daimler, the DOJ release (here) notes that Daimler "brazenly offered bribes in exchange for business around the world" and that Daimler "saw foreign bribery as a way of doing business." Yet, Daimler was not charged with FCPA anti-bribery violations. In fact, Daimler was not required to plead guilty to anything as it received a deferred prosecution agreement.

In BAE, the DOJ's criminal information (here) alleges that “BAE provided substantial benefits to one KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) public official, who was in a position of influence regarding the KSA Fighter Deals (the “KSA Official”), and to the KSA Official’s associates.” The indictment alleges that BAE “provided these benefits through various payment mechanisms both in the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S. and elsewhere.” Yet, BAE was not charged with FCPA anti-bribery violations.

In Siemens, the DOJ release (here) states, among other things, that for "much of its operations across the globe, bribery was nothing less than standard operating procedure for Siemens." Yet, Siemens was not charged with FCPA anti-bribery violations.

It is difficult to reconcile the charging decisions in these recent enforcement actions with the language of the Holder memo.

As to sentencing, the Holder memo states - "in a typical case" the appropriate sentence should be reflected by the "applicable guidelines range, and prosecutors should generally continue to advocate for a sentence within that range."

Apparently, neither Siemens and Daimler were "typical" cases, because in both enforcement actions the DOJ advocated for a sentence significantly below the guidelines range.

In Siemens, the guidelines range (see here) was $1.35 billion - $2.7 billion. However, the ultimate DOJ fine was $448.5 million. Siemens did not voluntarily disclose the conduct at issue, nevertheless, the DOJ gave Siemens greater sentencing credit than allowed for under the guidelines because the guidelines calculation was "incongruent with the level of cooperation and assistance provided by the company in the Department’s investigation." For more on Siemens' fine, see here and here.

In Daimler, the guidelines range (see here) was $116 million - $232 million. However, the ultimate DOJ fine was approximately $94 million. Again, Daimler did not voluntarily disclose the conduct at issue, nevertheless, the DOJ gave Daimler greater sentencing credit allowed for under the guidelines. The DOJ stated, "indeed, because Daimler did not voluntarily disclose its conduct prior to the filing of the whistleblower lawsuit, it only receives a two-point reduction in its culpability." However, the DOJ "respectfully submit[ed] that such reduction is incongruent with the level of cooperation and assistance provided by the company in the Department's investigation."

As demonstrated above, three of the DOJ's most high-profile FCPA or "FCPA like" enforcement actions seemingly contradict many of the guiding principles in the Holder memo.

With Attorney General Holder now re-affirming these principles, it will be interesting to see if future FCPA enforcement actions comply more closely with these principles or if the future holds more facade enforcement actions.

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Speaking of Attorney General Holder, while most of us were enjoying the Memorial Day barbeque, he was delivering remarks at the OECD Conference in Paris. See here for a copy of his remarks.

DOJ Speaks

There is a "same speech, different day" aspect of late when the DOJ talks about the FCPA. One can reasonably predict what will be said (i.e. DOJ values voluntary disclosure and cooperation), even before it is said, and this has the tendency of diminishing the message.

This week it was Compliance Week 2010 (see here). The speaker's - Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler and Assistant Attorney General (Criminal Division) Lanny Breuer.

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On Tuesday, Grindler spoke (see here for his remarks).

Grindler began his remarks as follows:

"Having spent a good portion of my career in private practice representing corporate clients and advising them on compliance matters, I am no stranger to what I suspect many of you in the audience are thinking: What is the Department of Justice focused on and how can I make sure my clients stay as far away from it as possible? I’d like to spend my time with you this evening hopefully answering the first question by giving you a sense of some of the policy and enforcement priorities that we are focused on at the Department and sharing some of my thoughts how you can best position your clients when interacting with the Department."

Grindler's remarks covered three general topics: DOJ's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, DOJ's efforts to combat health care fraud, and the DOJ's new Intellectual Property Enforcement Task Force.

While speaking on health care fraud, Grindler noted:

"You can be assured that we will also use every tool at our disposal to investigate and prosecute corrupt practices in the pharmaceutical industry. In the months ahead, for example, you can expect to see the Department increasingly use the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to prosecute kickbacks and bribes paid to foreign government officials by pharmaceutical companies. As the drug companies do more and more of their business overseas where so much of the health care business is government run, we see the opportunities for FCPA violations unfortunately proliferating. Indeed, in some foreign countries nearly every aspect of the approval, manufacture, import, export, pricing, sale and marketing of a drug product may involve a “foreign official” within the meaning of the FCPA. The extent of government involvement in foreign health systems, combined with fierce industry competition and the closed nature of many public formularies, creates, in our view, a significant risk that corrupt payments will infect the process. The Department will not hesitate to charge pharmaceutical companies and their senior executives under the FCPA if warranted to root out foreign bribery in the industry."

For the same speech, different day version, see here and here.

The final part of Grindler's speech is titlted - "What You Can Do." Excerpted portions are below.

"Now, how can you best advise your clients in light of the Department’s enforcement priorities and given the climate we are in where there is so much distrust of corporate America."

"First, you can make sure that your clients have robust, effective compliance programs and internal controls. A company’s compliance program continues to be one of the most important factors that we consider under the Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations. You are on the front lines of this issue and can make a real difference in your respective institutions by sending the message about the need for an effective compliance program. Compliance programs must not exist only on paper."

"In this context, I want to point out that the United States Sentencing Commission recently amended the Sentencing Guidelines on the issue of compliance programs. Specifically, the Commission clarified the importance of assessing and modifying compliance programs after you discover criminal conduct at your company. The current Guidelines provide that, following the discovery of criminal conduct, a company should, among other things, make “any necessary modifications to the organization's compliance and ethics program.” The new amendment -- assuming it goes into effect in November -- provides a new commentary to that provision specifying that this post-violation process includes “assessing the compliance and ethics program and making modifications necessary to ensure the program is effective … and may include the use of an outside professional advisor to ensure adequate assessment and implementation of any modifications.”

"In addition, the latest Guideline amendments clarify the circumstances under which an effective compliance and ethics program can entitle an organization to a 3-level reduction in its culpability score. Specifically, the amendment allows an organization to receive the decrease if the organization meets four criteria: (1) the individual or individuals with operational responsibility for the compliance and ethics program have direct reporting obligations to the organization’s governing authority or appropriate subgroup thereof; (2) the compliance and ethics program detected the offense before discovery outside the organization or before such discovery was reasonably likely; (3) the organization promptly reported the offense to the appropriate governmental authorities; and (4) no individual with operational responsibility for the compliance and ethics program participated in, condoned, or was willfully ignorant of the offense. These amendments reinforce the point that having a robust compliance program is critical not only to preventing misconduct in the first place, but also how your organization will be treated in the event criminal conduct does take place."

"The second thing you can do to best position your client, is you can partner with us. As I hope has been clear in my discussion of our enforcement efforts, there is a consistent theme of the importance of sharing information and partnering with the private sector in its anti-fraud efforts. Through examples like the National Heath Care Fraud Summit and the regional mortgage fraud summits, we have been reaching out to private sector anti-fraud professionals to share information about fraud schemes and improvements in data analysis. While we have limitations in what we can share, we are interested in exploring ways to work together within those constraints. If the private sector sees new fraud schemes or ways in which we can prevent fraud, that is something you should share with us."

"Third, you can advise your clients to make early, voluntary disclosure of misconduct. As you know, it is usually in your client’s best interest to cooperate with the government’s investigation through the disclosure of relevant facts, the production of documents and other evidence, and making witnesses available who have relevant information."

"Fourth, you can guide your client’s decision to take meaningful remedial measures in response to criminal wrongdoing, including the payment of restitution and the disciplining or termination of culpable employees, officers, or directors."

"In the end, all of these steps – robust compliance programs, information sharing between public and private sector anti-fraud efforts, voluntary disclosure, and meaningful remedial measures -- will inure to the benefit of your clients in several significant ways. They will deter criminal conduct from occurring in the first place. They will ensure that if and when misconduct does occur, it is detected early on and can be rooted out before too much damage is done. Your client will receive credit for such actions during the prosecutorial decision-making process. Finally, such steps will make your clients stronger corporate citizens, and will empower your clients’ officers, directors, and employees to fulfill their fiduciary obligations to shareholders and their duties of honest dealing to the investing public and the taxpayers."

For more on Grindler's speech, including topics raised during the Q&A, see this piece from Christopher Matthews at Main Justice.

*****

On Wednesday, Breuer spoke (see here for a copy of his remarks). Below are various excerpts from the speech.

Given the DOJ's recent "bribery, yet no bribery" cases against BAE and Daimler, I must admit to getting a bit frazzled after only paragraph two of the speech in which Breuer talks about the "the Justice Department’s determination to prosecute – and prosecute aggressively – financial fraud and corruption in all its forms. The American public demands no less, and we will deliver no less."

Speaking generally, Breuer described "a new era of heightened white-collar crime enforcement – an era marked by increased resources, increased information-sharing, increased cooperation and coordination, and tough penalties for corporations and individuals alike."

Breuer next discussed that "additional resources are also being committed in the Criminal Division, where we are in the process of adding a number of attorneys to the Fraud Section – lawyers who will be deployed immediately to prosecute crimes like securities fraud, health care fraud, and foreign bribery under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act." He cited the Africa Sting case as an example of using "more aggressive law enforcement techniques" and further stated that "it is fair to say that [DOJ] will continue to look for opportunities to innovate in how we identify financial fraud and corruption."

Speaking of innovation at the SEC, Breuer stated:

"The SEC will now make use of cooperation agreements, as well as deferred and non-prosecution agreements – all of which have been staples of the Justice Department’s approach in white collar criminal cases for many years now. These innovations will likely lead to even earlier and closer coordination between the SEC and the Justice Department."

Breuer next talked specifically about foreign bribery "which obviously is at the center of this heightened enforcement climate and which presents unique compliance challenges."

Below are his remarks.

"As I have said in the past, foreign bribery is a law enforcement challenge of truly global dimensions. It is, as the Attorney General has said, a 'scourge on civil society.' We in the Criminal Division combat foreign bribery each and every day. And as we go about our business, we are looking carefully at lapses in corporate compliance. Why? Because of what I said a few minutes ago. Our preference, like yours, is for these crimes to be prevented in the first instance. And the only way that can happen in your organizations is through a robust, state-of-the-art compliance program and a true culture of compliance."

"I know that you all do not lack for incentives; the statistics in FCPA enforcement are well known. But it is worth pausing on them for a moment."

"Since 2004, the Fraud Section has achieved 37 corporate FCPA and foreign bribery related resolutions, with fines totaling over $1.5 billion. In this time period, we have charged 81 individuals with FCPA violations and related offenses. Forty-six have been charged since the start of 2009 – more than the total number of individuals charged in the previous seven years combined."

"The individuals charged have included CEOs, CFOs, other senior-level corporate officials and, where jurisdiction existed here, several foreign officials. Charging individuals is part of a deliberate enforcement strategy to deter and prevent corrupt corporate conduct before it happens. And rest assured that we will seek equally tough sentences, including significant jail time if appropriate, to reinforce this message of deterrence."

"Aggressive enforcement by the Criminal Division provides one set of incentives for corporations. Others are sprouting up each and every day, and they are coming from all corners as anti-fraud and corruption enforcement catches up with the globalization of business."

"Here in the United States, the United States Sentencing Commission recently approved amendments to its Sentencing Guidelines, one of which reaffirmed the importance of compliance and ethics programs within organizations. The amendment stressed the critical need to embed these programs at the very highest level of the organization. In an interesting twist, the Commission expanded eligibility for effective compliance and ethics program credit at sentencing even if one or more members of 'high level personnel' has some role in the offense."

"But there’s a catch. In order to be eligible for credit where there is such 'high level' involvement, the corporation must have in place a direct reporting relationship between the individual with operational responsibility for the compliance program and the corporation’s governing body. And more than that, the corporation must have discovered the offense and reported it to enforcement officials before it otherwise became known. The amendment has not been uncontroversial. But whatever your opinion, it can at least be said that the amendment reflects the Commission’s view that compliance should be embedded at the very highest levels of an organization."

"On the international front, the United Kingdom has passed a new, comprehensive Bribery Act that criminalizes, among other things, the failure by a corporate entity to prevent bribery. Pretty serious, right? Well, the Act does provide a defense to such a charge if the corporate entity can show that it has 'adequate procedures' in place to deter and detect such conduct. What does 'adequate procedures' mean? It’s not entirely clear. And I’m, of course, not your lawyer. But, at a minimum, it would seem prudent to have in place a strong, state-of-the-art compliance program."

Breuer then offers a few thoughts on compliance and offers up the Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations (see here) and the OECD’s Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics, and Compliance (see here - Annex II) as benchmarks.

Breuer then acknowledges that "even the best compliance program may not stop fraud or corruption from occurring. So, what should a corporation do when a problem has been discovered?"

Because the answer has been stated numerous, numerous times, you probably already known the answer - voluntarily disclose and cooperate.

Below are Breuer's comments on these issues:

"Whether to voluntarily disclose potential criminality is admittedly a difficult question for business entities."

"But I can offer you this: If you come forward and if you fully cooperate with our investigation, you will receive meaningful credit for having done so. In talking about 'meaningful' credit, we are not promising amnesty for doing the right thing. But, self-reporting and cooperation carry significant incentives – by working with the Department, no charges may be brought at all, or we may agree to a deferred prosecution agreement or non-prosecution agreement, sentencing credit, or a below-Guidelines fine. Ultimately, every case is fact-specific and requires an assessment of the facts and circumstances, as well as the severity and pervasiveness of the conduct and the quality of the corporation’s pre-existing compliance program. But, in every case of self-disclosure, full cooperation, and remediation, the Department is committed to giving meaningful credit where it’s deserved to obtain a fair and just resolution."

"The Siemens matter is a case in point. While the conduct in that case is arguably the most egregious example of systemic foreign corruption ever prosecuted by the Department, [Note - Siemens was not charged with violating the FCPA's anti-bribery provisions] it also illustrates the tremendous benefits that flow from truly extraordinary cooperation. By Siemens opening itself up to authorities, [Note - Siemens did this after its offices were raided by German authorities] the Department completed its investigation and resolved the case – with domestic and international dimensions – in two years’ time. In the end, the benefits Siemens received through its cooperation, even in the absence of a voluntary disclosure, were plain – the $450 million fine that was paid to the Justice Department, although quite substantial, was a far cry from the advisory range of $1.35 billion to $2.7 billion called for in the Sentencing Guidelines. Put another way, Siemens received a penalty that was 67 to 84 percent less than what it otherwise could have faced had it not provided extraordinary cooperation and carried out such extensive remediation."

"Another example, on a more modest scale, was the resolution of the Helmerich & Payne matter, a company that self-disclosed improper or questionable payments. [Note - is Breuer acknowledging that the payments at issue in this case - payments to various officials and representatives of the Argentine and Venezuelan customs services in connection with importation and exportation of goods and equipment - may not have violated the FCPA? See here for more] The case was resolved through a non-prosecution agreement with a term of two years, a penalty of $1 million (which was approximately 30 percent below the bottom of the Guidelines range), and compliance self-reporting by the company for a period of two years in lieu of an independent compliance monitor. Because of the forward-leaning, proactive, and highly cooperative approach taken by Helmerich & Payne, that company received a host of benefits that likely would not otherwise have been obtained from the Department."

"In short, these two cases, and others like them, reflect the Department’s willingness to step up to the plate when a corporation does the right thing by making a voluntary disclosure and cooperating fully."

"Let me offer one additional piece of guidance on this topic. When a problem has been discovered, the corporation should seriously consider seeking the government’s input on the front end of its internal investigation. [Note - at the front end of an FCPA internal investigation, it is generally not even known if a violation has occurred - why should a company seek the DOJ's input when it is not yet known if a violation of law has occurred?] We encourage a company to come in and describe its work plan for conducting the investigation. Often we have questions, or helpful suggestions, or we may ask that the corporation expand the scope of the investigation. Regardless, the dialogue can be very helpful in ensuring at the outset that the corporation has an effective, cost-effective plan in place to investigate and deal with the problem."

Breuer then offered a few words about compliance monitors.

Below are his comments.

"In resolving criminal conduct, the Department’s goal is to vindicate the law and ensure adherence to it in both letter and spirit. In that regard, the structure and terms of a corporate resolution are properly determined by the particular facts of the case and the circumstances surrounding the specific business entity and the public interest. Thus, a compliance monitor may be particularly useful where the agreement requires the corporation to design, or substantially re-design, and implement a broad compliance and ethics program and internal controls. As an independent observer, the monitor can enable the government to verify whether a business is fulfilling the obligations to which it agreed. In other cases, however, a compliance monitor may not be needed for a variety of reasons, such as where the business organization has ceased operations in the area where the criminal conduct occurred, or where the business has re-designed and effectively implemented appropriate compliance measures and internal controls before entering into an agreement with the United States."

"However the calculus plays out, we are always mindful of, and we do weigh, the potential benefits of employing a monitor with the cost of a compliance monitor and its impact on the operations of the business organization. Of that much you can be sure."

For more on Breuer's speech, including topics raised during the Q&A, see this piece from Christopher Matthews at Main Justice.

*****

A good holiday weekend to all - please check back on Tuesday for a post about a current FCPA compliance monitor.

Congressman Towns Is Asking The Right Questions

One interesting, surprising, and controversial aspect of FCPA enforcement is that the U.S. government remains a lucrative customer for many FCPA violators, including some of the most egregious violators.

Last December, on the one-year anniversary of the record-setting Siemens enforcement actions, I ran this post - "Siemens ... The Year After."

Among other things, the post noted that in the year since resolution of the Siemens FCPA matter, the U.S. government continues to do substantial business with the company it charged with engaging in a pattern of bribery “unprecedented in scale and geographic scope.”

Using www.recovery.gov, the post then identifies many of the hundreds of government contracts awarded to Siemens' business units with funds made available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $787 billion stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in February 2009.

These contracts have been awarded by the following government agencies: Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army, Department of Transportation, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the General Services Administration. According to Recovery.gov, even the DOJ (i.e. the same government agency that prosecuted Siemens for a pattern of bribery the agency termed “unprecedented in scale and geographic scope”) awarded a Siemens business unit a contract funded with stimulus dollars. Because these are just government contracts awarded with stimulus money, they represent merely the tip of the iceberg.

Siemens is not alone.

In February, BAE settled "FCPA-like" charges. Since the enforcement action, the company has been inking contracts with U.S. government agencies left and right.

Last week it was a $10.7 million contract with the U.S. Army (see here). The week before it was a $5.5 million contract and a $10 million contract with U.S. government agencies (see here and here).

Numerous other FCPA violators could be listed as well.

Against this backdrop, Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is asking the right questions.

In a May 18th letter to Attorney General Eric Holder (see here) the Committee expresses its concern "that settlements of civil and criminal cases by DOJ are being used as a shield to foreclose other appropriate remedies, such as suspension and debarment, that protect the government from continuing to do business with contractors who do not have satisfactory records of quality performance and business ethics."

The letter specifically mentions Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), including its 2009 FCPA enforcement action (see here and here).

The letter notes that "remarkably, neither the criminal [FCPA] conviction" nor KBR's other legal woes "have precluded KBR from continuing to receive new government contracts."

The letter then correctly notes, as detailed above, that "KBR does not appear to be an isolated example of this inconsistent policy whereby DOJ pursues fines and criminal sanctions for illegal actions by government contractors, yet the negotiated resolution of these cases does not have any effect on the company's eligibility to continue to receive new contracts. In fact, an agreement by DOJ to intervene on the company's behalf in any collateral proceedings, such as suspension and debarment, is a staple of deferred prosecution agreements."

The letter continues:

"This type of clause, in which DOJ agrees to take the company's side in suspension and debarment proceedings, has become standard and continues to this day. In a settlement just last month in which Daimler paid $185 million to settle criminal and civil charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ "agrees to cooperate with Daimler" "[w]ith respect to Daimler's present reliability and responsibility as a government contractor." (See here for the Deferred Prosecution Agreement - para 21).

The letter concludes by the Committee asking for answers to the following questions by May 28th.

1. Does DOJ consider resolution of charges to foreclose action by other government agencies to suspend or debar companies from contracting?

2. In view of the fact that suspension and debarment is not a penalty, but is an important means for government agencies to protect themselves from unscrupulous and poorly performing contractors, please provide a detailed explanation of whether the Justice Department believes it is in the government's best interest to continue to award contracts to those with a record of violations of law.

3. Does DOJ consult with federal government contracting authorities when entering into settlement agreements with companies that compete for government contracts?

4. Identify all instances in which DOJ officials intervened in a suspension and debarment proceeding on behalf of government contractors since 2005 and explain the basis for the DOJ intervention.

These are all the right questions to ask of the DOJ.

I've noted in numerous other posts (and elsewhere) that DOJ's deterrance message will not fully be heard until an FCPA violator is debarred from receiving lucrative government contracts.

For a copy of the Committee's news release (see here).

The FCPA and Reputational Damage

Nearly every FCPA presentation one sees or hears seems to talk about collateral sanctions which flow from an FCPA enforcement action, including the reputational harm companies "suffer" when disclosing FCPA issues or settling FCPA enforcement actions.

But is it true?

Do companies that disclose FCPA issues or settle FCPA enforcement actions actually suffer any reputational damage?

For companies, reputation is traditionally measured by stock price performance and business revenue.

Do companies that disclose FCPA issues or settle FCPA enforcement actions have a decrease in stock price or lose business?

How does one even measure such an issue?

Stock price movement upon the market first learning of a potential FCPA issue? Stock price movement upon settlement of an FCPA enforcement action? Something in between? Business revenue during the period of uncertainty (i.e. from disclosure to settlement)? Business revenue in the year after settlement of an FCPA enforcement action?

Whatever the metric, the answer to whether companies suffer reputational damage upon disclosing an FCPA issue or settling an FCPA enforcement action seems to be inconclusive.

That was the conclusion of a January 2009 study by Nera Economic Consulting (see here). Among other things, the study concluded that "the extent of the fallout from the relatively recent trend of increased FCPA enforcement actions remains uncertain." For some companies "there was no statistically significant price reaction" yet for other companies there was a "negative price reaction."

The below examples also seem to support the inconclusive answer.

Last month, (see here) Hewlett-Packard Co.'s (HP) Moscow offices were raided in connection with an investigation focusing on whether company executives made millions in payments to the prosecutor general of the Russian Federation to secure contracts. It was front page news in several publications, including the Wall Street Journal. This week HP (see here) disclosed second quarter results (the same quarter the issue surfaced). The results ... stellar. "Second quarter net revenue of $30.8 billion, up 13%, or $3.5 billion, from a year earlier." HP's Chairman and CEO said "HP had an exceptional quarter with strong performance across every region," - "we've built the best portfolio in the industry, and our customers are responding. We're winning in the marketplace, investing for the future and confident in the enormous opportunity that lies ahead." What about the company's performance in Russia? Even better. The HP release notes "revenue from outside of the United States in the second quarter accounted for 66% of total HP revenue, with revenue in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) increasing 25% while accounting for 10% of total HP revenue."

Front page press coverage of HP's potential FCPA issues seems to have had no affect on the company's reputation when viewed through the prism of financial performance.

What about Siemens?

In the 365 days after the Siemens enforcement action, Siemens outperformed its competitors and received mounds of new business from the U.S. government, including taxpayer funds from the $787 billion stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in February 2009 (see here). This despite the fact (according to DOJ statements) that Siemens engaged in a pattern of bribery "unprecedented in scale and geographic scope" and for much of Siemens operations around the world "bribery was nothing less than standard operating procedure." Siemens surely paid a hefty fine/penalty amount, but did its reputation suffer? It would appear not.

What about BAE?

When the BAE "FCPA-like" enforcement action was announced, the company's stock rose. Since the February 2010 enforcement action, the company has been inking contracts with the U.S. and U.K. governments (the prosecuting governments) left and right. This week it was a $10.7 million contract with the U.S. Army (see here). Last week it was a $5.5 million contract and a $10 million contract with U.S. government agencies (see here and here). Throw in a recent £111 million contract from the UK's Ministry of Defence (see here) and one would be justified in concluding that it matters very little if a company is caught engaging in bribery and corruption.

However, just when one is set to reach such a conclusion, along comes a company like Avon. Last month, the company shares dropped 8% upon news that its previously disclosed FCPA issues appear to have escalated. (see here, here and here). It sure looks like Avon's reputation (viewed through the prism of its stock price) has suffered because of the FCPA escalation.

*****

Somewhat "on topic" is the recent news that Daimler AG, after a 17 year listing on the New York Stock Exchange, has decided to delist. Purely coincidence that this delisting is occuring approximately one month after Daimler resolved its FCPA case?

Daimler agreed to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement for conspiring to violate the FCPA's books and records provisions and knowingly falsifying books, records and accounts, provisions which only apply to "issuers".

(The DOJ's allegations as to Daimler also allege use of U.S. bank accounts and U.S. entities - an independent basis by which a foreign company like Daimler can become subject to the FCPA). For more on the Daimler enforcement action (see here and here).

Q & A With Martin Weinstein

Martin Weinstein (here) is a "dean" of the FCPA bar. Much of my early understanding of the FCPA came as a direct result of working with Martin on FCPA investigations and enforcement actions. I also have Martin to thank for several of the stamps in my passport.

Below is a Q & A exchange with Martin in which he talks about the FCPA's early years, the current state of enforcement, and suggestions for change.

*****

Q: As a 1984 law school graduate did you have any exposure to the FCPA? Describe your first exposure to the FCPA?

A: When I was in law school, I never heard of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and didn’t even know that it existed until around 1991. I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and a witness I was interviewing mentioned to me that she thought that some payments had been made to an Egyptian government official. I remember turning to the investigating agent who was with me and saying, “isn’t there a statute somewhere that prohibits this?” That was my first exposure to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Q: You were lead DOJ counsel in the Lockheed case in the mid-1990's. Generally describe this matter, how it was resolved, and whether resolution of this case, if brought in 2010, would look any different?

A: I was the lead counsel in the Lockheed case that was resolved in the mid-1990’s, specifically January 1995. It was, by all accounts, the first really serious corporate case brought in the then 20 year history of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In that case, the company actually was indicted, and the allegations involved payments to a member of the Egyptian Parliament to obtain a contract through which the Egyptian Air Force would buy three C130 aircraft from Lockheed. There were two individuals also charged. The cases against all three defendants (the company and the two individuals) were resolved before trial, in the company’s case, literally days before the jury was to be selected.

The company agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It agreed to pay a combination of civil and criminal damages in the amount of $24.8 million, which was twice the profit of the contract they had with the Egyptian military to sell the C130 aircraft.

One of the individuals pled guilty to a lesser charge, and the other individual, a marketing manager named Suleiman Nassar, actually fled to Syria. That was one of the most interesting parts of the case for me because I visited Damascus on several occasions and negotiated directly with the government. Nassar was imprisoned in Syria on these charges, but was ultimately released and returned to the U.S. to plead guilty to violating the FCPA and became, I believe, the first person to go to jail under the FCPA.

Q: Did FCPA enforcement, during the last decade, morph into something other than what Congress intended the FCPA to address when passed in 1977?

A: The last decade of FCPA enforcement has seen extraordinary evolution, and I think you have to say that when Congress passed the law in 1977, they did not envision the wide reach of enforcement today and the types of things that the government gets involved in, such as transactions, joint ventures, and successor liability. I do think that the DOJ and the SEC have stayed generally true to the vision of the FCPA, which focuses on things of value, primarily money, going to foreign government officials in exchange for business.

Q: What is your biggest challenge as an FCPA practitioner? How has your FCPA practice changed over the past decade?

A: The challenges as an FCPA practitioner have mainly involved keeping up with the pace of the enforcement agencies in recent years. Whereas cases used to involve U.S. companies and their businesses in a few countries, the typical case now involves enforcement actions by multiple sovereigns involving the same company at the same time, and that makes the practice more challenging and more fascinating.

Q: What are your clients' biggest challenges / frustrations with the FCPA or FCPA enforcement? Have these challenges / frustrations changed over the past decade?

A: I think that companies’ main frustration is that even with an outstanding compliance program and 99% of the employees maintaining strict adherence to the laws, you can still have violations which expose the entire company to extraordinarily serious penalties. I think the government has, at times, lost track of the main motivations for this statute and has become focused on the amounts of penalties, the imposition of compliance monitors, and exercising government control over what are basically private businesses. The vast majority of companies are absolutely committed to following the spirit and the letter of the FCPA, but when a company gets into trouble, the whole enterprise can be put at risk because of the conduct of a few people, and that doesn’t seem right. I worry that the government has come to see private industry through “dirty” glasses: the punishments don’t seem to fit the crimes.

Q: The FCPA was passed in 1977, amended in 1988 and also amended in 1998. Given this approximate ten year cycle, is the FCPA in need of further amendment? If so, what would the "Weinstein" amendment look like?

A: I think the Weinstein amendment would focus on the very significant issue of who is a foreign official and what constitutes a state-controlled instrumentality. There is so little guidance in this area that an amendment to the law providing clarity to companies wishing to comply is really essential. For example, after the U.K. government takeovers of certain British banks and U.S. intervention in the auto industry, did all these private businesses become state-controlled instrumentalities rendering all their employees government officials? Companies should not have to guess who is and who is not a government official.

Q: Arguably the two most egregious bribery schemes in recent years involved Siemens and BAE. In both instances, the companies were not charged with FCPA antibribery violations. What message does this send?

A: Siemens and BAE were not charged with antibribery violations largely for two different reasons. In the Siemens case and a number of other cases, charging a company with antibribery violations renders it susceptible to significant suspension and debarment risks. If the government can find suitable alternatives to antibribery charges and still tell the full story of the conduct to the public, it is really a much more just solution not to expose the company to extreme suspension and debarment risks. In BAE, I think the issue was much more one of jurisdiction, and I think the government is going to find this issue repeatedly if it continues to seek to prosecute foreign companies that have relatively little contact with U.S. interstate commerce.

Q: How can law and business schools best expose future lawyers and business leaders to the FCPA? What advice do you have for law students interesting in a future FCPA practice?

A: The FCPA has been a fantastic area in which to practice and to watch evolve. For students who are interested in the field, I think the most important thing is to learn as much as you can about U.S. criminal law and U.S. securities law and their interplay with various anticorruption laws around the world. It has become a very complicated field and I think it is safe to say the stakes for companies and individuals have never been higher.

Breuer - Siemens Investigation (As to Individuals) Remains Open

Last week, Lanny Breuer (Assistant Attorney General - Criminal Division) testified before The Criminal Law Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. During his Q&A exchange with Senator Arlen Specter, Breuer stated that "individuals, executives and others who were involved [in the Siemens bribery scandal], remain exposed and the matter is not closed."

Why was Specter asking Breuer about the Siemens enforcement action?

A bit of background.

In December 2008, right in time for the holidays, the DOJ put a nice "bribery, yet no bribery" bow on the Siemens enforcement action.

According to the DOJ, for much of Siemens operations around the world "bribery was nothing less than standard operating procedure." The egregious nature of Siemens conduct is set forth in the criminal information (see here).

Among other allegations, the information details how Siemens paid out, through various mechanisms, $805.5 million in “corrupt payments to foreign officials” including: (i) payments made by various subsidiaries, including those with offices in the U.S., to “purported business consultants, knowing that at least some or all of those funds would be passed along to foreign government officials;” (ii) money withdraw from “cash desks within Siemens’ offices” for “corrupt payments;” and (iii) “slush funds to generate cash for corrupt payments.”

As to the amount of business Siemens obtained or retained through these corrupt payments, the DOJ’s sentencing memorandum (see here) states that calculating a traditional loss figure under the Sentencing Guidelines “would be overly burdensome, if not impossible” given the “literally thousands of contracts over many years.”

Yet, Siemens was not charged with violating the FCPA's anti-bribery provisions.

That would have hurt too much, a point made in the DOJ's sentencing memorandum which notes that a key factor the DOJ considered in resolving the case against Siemens in the way it did was the “collateral consequences” that could have resulted from criminal antibribery charges including the “risk of debarment and exclusion from government contracts.”

All of this troubled Senator Specter who has "long been concerned about the acceptance of fines instead of jail sentences in egregious cases." (see here). In a release, Senator Specter notes that "there are many illustrative cases but three will suffice to make the point. In each of these cases, I registered my complaint with the Department of Justice."

One such case was the Siemens enforcement action.

As Senator Specter's release notes:

"On December 15, 2008, Siemens AG entered guilty pleas to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and agreed to pay $1.6 billion in fines, penalties and disgorgements with no jail sentences. Again, that amounts to a calculation as part of the cost of doing business for a company which had revenues of $104 billion and a net income of $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2008 after the penalty."

Thus, the reason Senator Specter questioned Breuer about the Siemens enforcement action during last week's hearing.

Set forth below is the exchange.

*****

SPECTER: Are you familiar with the Siemens prosecution, Mr. Breuer?

BREUER: I am, Senator, to a degree, I am familiar with the Siemens prosecution.

SPECTER: Well, that's a -- that's a case where Siemens, according to the information provided to me, agreed to pay a total criminal fine of $450 million and a disgorgement of $350 million in profits. And nobody went to jail. Siemens' income, according to the information I have, was $104 billion, and income in excess or approximately $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2008. Did that conviction arise during the course of the current administration?

BREUER: It did, Senator. It was in -- it did, Mr. Chairman. It was an ongoing investigation. And you're right. Let me just add a little to what you say. First, Siemens, its total monetary penalties were actually $1.6 billion. That would include both from the U.S. and in Germany. The company was incredibly cooperative and very, very -- very, very helpful in the information it provided over an extensive period. In making Siemens' plea, we made it as an absolute explicit provision that there was absolutely no protection for any of the individuals of Siemens, and therefore the individuals, executives and others who were involved, remain exposed and the matter is not closed. The matter -- simply all that we have done is have a plea against the corporation, we have not closed out nor have we claimed to have closed out investigations with respect to individuals. They're ongoing. And, Mr. Chairman, I agree with you, I think the hallmark of an effective criminal justice plan must be that we will prosecute individuals when appropriate and ongoing. And I should say in that vein, Mr. Chairman, just two weeks ago we received the longest sentence in an FCPA case in the history of the FCPA when we attained an 87-month sentence against a fellow who had violated and was convicted of the FCPA. So we will continue to pursue that.

SPECTER: Well, you are saying that even though the case was concluded against the corporation that the matter is ongoing as to the individuals. Ordinarily a case is wrapped up once and for all and that before a corporation will pay a fine they want to know that that's the limit of their liability.

BREUER: Right.

SPECTER: And there's obviously a motivation to not have a jail sentence, for the corporation to pay a fine. And this morning we heard very extensive testimony -- not that it was surprising -- that fines are added into the cost of doing business. One testimony related to one defendant who paid $50 million and said if it had been a criminal prosecution he would have fought it to the teeth -- tooth and nail. But you are saying that you're really going to go after some people in this Siemens matter?

BREUER: Well, Mr. Chairman, what I'm saying is that I don't want to say whether we are or not, for the reasons that I know you understand well. But I will say is the following. We're not willing -- and you're absolutely right. Corporations do want to settle these cases. They do want to pay money, and they do want the assurance that the matters will be closed against the individuals of their company. We're not -- we're not going to -- we didn't allow that to happen in that case, and we won't let it happen, for the reasons you said. Now, in the Siemens case, I do want companies to feel an enormous incentive to come in and to disclose. And in Siemens, they did come in -- they did come in. They did disclose. And they provided us with an enormous amount of information. And so there was a real judgment that there was a real merit to having closure with respect to that and for the company to be rewarded for providing us with almost unparalleled cooperation.

SPECTER: Did you (inaudible) the prosecution before they made the disclosures?

BREUER: I don't think so, in that case. I think, Senator, I'll have to go back. That's a good question. So my -- my colleague is right. In this case, of course, one of the challenges that I was going to go into is, in this particular case, the prosecution began in Germany. And then we, of course, as we try now, more and more, to deal with the challenges we have, are working closely with our international colleagues and partners. That was the case where it began with the German prosecutors. And, of course, many of the individuals involved are in Europe. But there -- nonetheless, it began in Germany. The company -- we reached out, I believe. The company provided us with an enormous amount of information.

SPECTER: Mr. Breuer, what I'm getting at is, did they provide you with information after you already had the case?

BREUER: No. I mean, Mr. Chairman, in a case like this, these are very complicated cases. And this, of course, was a massive example of -- of violations of the FCPA in different countries. And so, there, there's no question that the law firm providing us, and Siemens providing us with information, were able to provide us with information that we would not have had but for them giving us the information. It was all over the world. Frankly, we would not have had the resources to have investigated to the degree that the company provided us the information. And so they did get a benefit for that. The benefit they got was certainty in their -- in the resolution of the corporate deal. What they did not get was closure for the individuals.

*****

As the above exchange demonstrates, Senator Specter also seems troubled that Siemens received cooperation credit even though the credit came after the company was busted.

The DOJ's release (see here) states:

"The resolution of the U.S. criminal investigation of Siemens AG and its subsidiaries reflects, in large part, the actions of Siemens AG and its audit committee in disclosing potential FCPA violations to the Department after the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated searches of multiple Siemens AG offices and homes of Siemens AG employees." (emphasis added).

If Senator Specter is troubled by this aspect of the Siemens enforcement action, he may want to take a close look at the Daimler enforcement action as well.

Daimler, like Siemens, was another "bribery, yet no bribery" case as to the parent entity that orchestrated the bribery scheme (per the DOJ's own allegations). However, unlike Siemens, Daimler was not required to plead guilty to anything - it received a deferred prosecution agreement.

In arriving at a fine amount, Daimler, like Siemens, also received cooperation credit.

The DOJ's sentencing memorandum (see here) notes that Daimler received a sentencing credit (a credit which reduces the overall fine amount) because the "organization fully cooperated in the investigation and clearly demonstrated recognition and affirmative acceptance of responsibility for its criminal conduct."

This despite the fact that elsewhere in the sentencing memo the DOJ notes that the entire investigation started in March 2004 when a "former Daimler employee filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration ... allege[ing] that he was terminated for voicing concerns about Daimler's practice of maintaining secret accounts, including accounts in its own books and records, for the purpose of bribing foreign government officials."

In other words, even though the Daimler enforcement action was hatched by an internal whistleblower, the company still received a sentencing credit for cooperating in the eventual investigation.

The sentencing range set forth in the DOJ memo is $116 - $232 million.

The ultimate $93.6 million DOJ penalty was 20% below the bottom fine range of $116 million.

DOJ justified this reduction by stating that such a "reduction is appropriate given the nature and extent of Daimler's cooperation in this matter, including sharing information with the Department regarding evidence obtained as a result of Daimler's extensive investigation of corrupt payments around the world."

The DOJ further stated, "indeed, because Daimler did not voluntarily disclose its conduct prior to the filing of the whistleblower lawsuit, it only receives a two-point reduction in its culpability." However, in a rather odd statement, DOJ then said that it "respectfully submits that such reduction is incongruent with the level of cooperation and assistance provided by the company in the Department's investigation."

In other words, Daimler, like Siemens, received cooperation credit even though disclosure of the conduct at issue was involuntarily. Also, the DOJ gave Daimler cooperation credit greater than that allowed under the guidelines.

In conclusion, the DOJ noted that the disposition "promotes respect for the law, provides just punishment, and affords adequate deterrence to criminal conduct for Daimler and the marketplace generally."

*****

Mr. Breuer had a busy week last week (see here for a prior post). During his Council of Foreign Relations speech, Breuer was asked about some of the DOJ's "old cases." See here for the Main Justice story and his response.

Multilateral Development Banks Sign Cross-Debarment Agreement

In April, five multilateral development banks (MDB's) - the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Inter-American Development Bank Group - signed an agreement to "cross-debar firms and individuals found to have engaged in wrongdoing in MDB-financed development projects. (See here for more information).

World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick noted that with the "cross-debarment agreement among development banks, a clear message on anticorruption is being delivered: steal and cheat from one, get punished by all."

Under the agreement (here), each participating institution "will enforce debarment decisions made by another participating institution" to the extent the debarment exceeds one year. However, as is often the case, notwithstanding such a commitment, the agreement also states that a "participating institution may decide not to enforce a debarment by the sanctioning institution where such enforcement would be inconsistent with its legal or other institutional considerations ..."

It remains to been seen whether the cross-debarment agreement will have any deterrant effect by raising the "cost" of engaging in bribery and corruption.

For a World Bank list of debarred firms and individuals (see here).

In July 2009, the World Bank announced (here) "an agreement of up to a four-year debarment for Siemens’ Russian subsidiary, and a voluntary two-year shut-out from bidding on Bank business for Siemens AG and all of its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates." In November 2009, the World Bank announced (here) that it "debarred [for four years] Limited Liability Company Siemens (OOO Siemens), a Russian subsidiary of Siemens AG, for having engaged in fraudulent and corrupt practices in relation to a World Bank-financed project - Moscow Urban Transport Project." For more information on what was and was not included in that debarment proceeding, see here.

Point - Counterpoint With Billy Jacobson

A few weeks ago, I took issue with Mark Mendelsohn's (DOJ Deputy Chief, Fraud Section and the DOJ's FCPA "top cop") recent defense of the 2008 Siemens enforcement action. (see here).

In response, I heard from William Jacobson.

I am always grateful for reader feedback, especially when its comes from someone the caliber of Jacobson - the former Assistant Chief for FCPA Enforcement at the Fraud Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice. While at DOJ, Jacobson worked closely with Mendelsohn, including on the Siemens matter. For more on Jacobson's role at DOJ see this recent profile in Main Justice. Jacobson is currently the Vice President, Co-General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer at Weatherford International, Ltd. (see here).

With Jacobson's permission, I set forth our e-mail exchange below.

*****

WJ - I have to take issue with your recent post regarding the Siemens settlement. As a recent émigré to the world of in-house counsel, I can assure you that the staggering monetary settlement made a tremendous impact in boardrooms across the U.S. and the world. One can certainly argue that the government should have kept investigating Siemens until it uncovered every scrap of evidence against the company. One can also argue that the fine and disgorgement amounts could have been greater. However, the government’s goal was not to destroy the company and thereby cause untold damage to its shareholders. In fact, I think it is fair to say that the government’s goal was to sufficiently punish the company without destroying the company. An investigation lasting several more years and a fine of several billion dollars could well have done that – not to mention debarment, the lack of which you have also criticized.

Since at least 2001, the Fraud Section has been trying to bring “real-time” prosecutions as often as possible. This often means focusing on the one or two most egregious transactions at issue in a case, bringing a case based upon those transactions and moving on. An important component of this strategy in FCPA cases has been ensuring that companies improve their compliance departments to mitigate the chances of bad conduct recurring. This is precisely what the Fraud Section (as well as the SEC and the Munich Prosecutor) did with Siemens and, in my opinion, it was the correct approach.

MK – Nice to hear from you and thanks for reading the blog. I am not suggesting that in a case that apparently involved hundreds, if not thousands, of separate bribe payments, that the DOJ/SEC need to fully investigate each and every instance, perhaps focusing on six, ten (I don’t know what the magical number is or should be) is desirable. Even so, is it too much to ask that, as to those six or ten instances, that the criminal charges actually fit the facts? In other words, is it too much to ask of the DOJ to actually charge a company that clearly committed FCPA antibribery violations with FCPA antibribery charges?

Point taken that the “government’s goal was not to destroy the company and thereby cause untold damage to its shareholders.” Indeed, that is a legitimate policy issue present in any corporate criminal matter, FCPA or not. However, is agreeing to an overall penalty LESS than the amount of the alleged payments and LESS than the amount of the business allegedly obtain or retained – is that “sufficiently punishing” the company. Siemens net income between 2004-2008 (a time period that does not even cover the full range of the relevant time period) was approximately $28.3 billion. Thus, the worldwide fines and penalties accounted for approximately 5% of its net income, how does this “sufficiently punish” the company? Is not one justified, when viewing the amounts at issue, to conclude that this whole episode was a net positive for Siemens?

You raise the debarment issue, which I have discussed on my blog as well. My opinion is that the message DOJ says it wants to send in these cases, will not be sent until a company is debarred for a specific time period. If the DOJ is looking for deterrence it has the tools at its disposal.

If “real-time” prosecutions are indeed the goal of the DOJ (a dubious assertion given that many, many disclosed FCPA cases have languished for years and years) that is a good goal. However, the rush to get things settled and put a nice shiny bow around a case so that the enforcement agencies can conserve resources and focus elsewhere, and so that the company can move on, should not result in a situation, which I think is reflected in the Siemens and BAE enforcement actions, that certain companies in certain industries which sell to certain customers are essentially immune from FCPA antibribery violations.

WJ: While I agree that debarment would send an even stronger deterrent message than non-debarment, it is hard to see how a $1.6B penalty equates with immunity as you suggest. There is always more punishment that is possible, but the maximum does not have to be applied for DOJ to be effective.

Another factor that should be considered is jurisdiction. If I remember correctly, the Siemens charging papers state that its Venezuelan and Bangladeshi subsidiaries used U.S bank accounts to further their bribe schemes. The papers do not make similar US-nexus allegations for either the parent company or the Argentine subsidiary. Thus, it may be that DOJ felt it didn’t have jurisdiction over the parent company for a bribery charge. As for BAE, I can only say what press reports make clear – the case was enormously challenging for many different reasons. I think the folks at DOJ would agree that their settlement was not perfect, but I think they did an admirable job of not having perfect be the enemy of good.

MK – I am clearly not suggesting that Siemens escaped liability for its “egregious,” “staggering,” and “brazen” corrupt conduct (those are the enforcement agencies’ words – not mine). However, it sure seems that certain companies have come to be immune from FCPA antibribery charges. Any time a particular company is immune from particular aspects of a law, respect for that law and indeed the rule of law suffers.

As to Siemens and whether there was a U.S. nexus sufficient to charge an antibribery violation, the DOJ’s information clearly states that Siemens Power Generation (with offices in Florida), Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution (with offices in North Carolina) and Siemens Transportation Systems (with offices in California) were key players in the overall bribery scheme – presumably DOJ included the “with offices” in the U.S. part for a reason.

In any event, where does this leave the future of FCPA enforcement. I teach the FCPA to my students, should I now conclude my FCPA section with “FCPA enforcement – an area of law where perfect should not be the enemy of good.” If you are an individual sitting in prison today because you violated the FCPA’s antibribery provisions, how do you explain to such an individual that certain companies are immune from the same conduct for which they are sitting in prison?

WJ: Those of your students that aspire to prosecution, especially white collar prosecution, would be well served to learn that concept, yes. Prosecutorial discretion is a wonderful feature of our judicial system which often leads to imperfect solutions, but, on balance, usually – though certainly not all the time -- works out just about right.