Oracle Corporation will pay more than $23 million to settle charges it violated parts of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when its Turkish, Emirati and Indian subsidiaries used slush funds to bribe foreign officials for business from 2016 to 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced. The company agreed to pay around $8 million in disgorgement and a $15 million penalty, along with agreeing to "cease and desist" from violating the anti-bribery, books and records and internal accounting controls elements of the FCPA, SEC said. Oracle did so without admitting or denying the SEC findings.
Adam Goldberg, former partner at Simpson Thacher in Hong Kong, has joined Pillsbury Winthrop as a litigation partner in San Francisco, the firm announced. Goldberg's practice will center around issues relating to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, commercial bribery, violations of U.S. and Hong Kong securities laws, embezzlement and U.S. sanctions, the firm said. He also advises clients across a host of industries on matters involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., sanctions and export controls compliance. Much of his current practice, and practice at Simpson Thacher, revolves around China, though he has experience advising on matters involving South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, the firm said.
Deborah Connor, former chief of DOJ's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, has joined Morrison Foerster as a partner in the Washington, D.C.-based Litigation Department, the firm announced. While at DOJ, Connor oversaw various investigative actions, including matters involving violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and economic sanctions. Before taking over MLARS, Connor served at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia for 16 years, working in various roles, including as chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, where she led the prosecution of cases involving violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the firm said. At Morrison Foerster, Connor will center her practice on anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act matters.
Brazilian airline GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes will pay over $41 million to settle criminal and civil investigations by DOJ, SEC and Brazilian authorities on bribery charges, DOJ announced in a Sept. 15 news release. DOJ and the airline entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement over charges that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the airline agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $17 million.
Cary Yan and Gina Zhou, two Marshall Islands nationals charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arrived in the U.S. Sept. 2 after being extradited from Thailand, the DOJ announced Sept. 2. The pair is charged with violating the FCPA, money laundering and conspiracy in a scheme to bribe elected officials in the Marshall Islands to get certain legislation passed. The August 2020 five-count indictment charged Yan and Zhou with one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and one count of committing international money laundering.
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A Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case showed the limits that a request under a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) can have for tolling a statute of limitations, two Holland & Knight attorneys said in an Aug. 29 blog post. The attorneys, Wifredo Ferrer and Gary Klubok, wrote that a recent district court decision tossing four counts of FCPA and other violation allegations on the grounds that the government cannot use multiple MLATs as a tool to extend tolling offers lessons for defense attorneys: criteria for when MLAT tolling orders end, and that MLAT tolling is offense-specific and not person-specific.
Rixon Rafael Moreno Oropeza, a Venezuelan national and businessman, was charged with making bribe payments and money laundering in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. Per the indictment returned to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Moreno laundered the money made from inflated procurement contracts that were received by making bribes to senior executives at Petropiar -- a joint venture of Venezuela's state-owned energy company and an American oil company.
The U.S. is investigating at least 100 cases involving violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, an FCPA Blog post said Aug. 22. The blog, which pulled data from FCPA Tracker, said 20 new active investigations have been disclosed since the start of 2020, including four companies involved in the oil and gas industry, two defense contractors, two medical device makers and two telecommunications companies. Half the 20 new disclosures came from companies based in the U.S.
Guillermo Christensen, former office managing partner at Ice Miller, has joined K&L Gates as a partner in the antitrust, competition and trade regulation practice, the firm announced. Christensen's practice centers on advising clients on matters involving economic sanctions, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and export controls. In the past, Christensen has also represented clients in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases, OFAC investigations and voluntary disclosures. Before becoming a lawyer, Christensen worked for the CIA for 15 years in various assignments, including in interagency roles with the Defense and State departments.