The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) bars paying foreign officials for any kind of business advantage, such as securing government contracts or other kinds of favorable business treatment.  The statute covers any form of consideration including gifts, meals, travel, and entertainment.  It also imposes strict record-keeping and internal control requirements to prevent falsifying company books and records to disguise foreign bribes.

Enforcing the FCPA is a perennial priority for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the agencies with primary responsibility for enforcing the statute.  In recent years, the government has recovered billions of dollars under the statute, sometimes even against a single company, like in 2020 with Airbus ($3.9 billion) and Goldman Sachs ($3.3 billion), and in 2019 with Ericsson ($1 billion).

This past year did not have any billion-dollar hits, but there were several sizeable recoveries including the top recovery of $661 million against Swiss-based commodities trader Gunvor.  This payout alone was almost as much as all the FCPA recoveries in 2023 combined, which amounted to just under $750 million.  No doubt, the government has made it clear that going after foreign bribery and corruption remains a key enforcement focus.

In fact, it is one of only four enforcement areas covered in the Pilot Whistleblower Program DOJ launched in August.  DOJ designed the program to protect and reward whistleblowers who fall outside the existing whistleblower programs.  And while the SEC Whistleblower Program covers whistleblowers involved in FCPA actions brought by SEC, it does not necessarily cover actions brought by DOJ.

According to Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Gordon Schnell, “DOJ clearly is hoping to beef up its FCPA enforcement with the new program as whistleblowers are often the key to bringing these types of foreign bribery actions.”  He added: “The complicated nature of foreign bribery schemes, where payments are often concealed or disguised through payments to third-party intermediaries, makes them very difficult to detect without individuals directly involved or with first-hand knowledge of the scheme reporting to SEC or DOJ.”

We do not know which of this past year’s top recoveries involved whistleblowers.  SEC is strictly committed to maintaining the confidentiality of its whistleblowers so it never discloses when they are involved in a particular enforcement action.  But based on the critical role whistleblowers historically have played in this enforcement area, and the government’s push to get them even more involved, there is a high likelihood whistleblowers were involved in most of these actions.

Here is our listing of the Top FCPA recoveries for 2024:

No. 1: Gunvor ($661M).  On March 1, Swiss-based international commodities trading company Gunvor S.A. pleaded guilty and agreed to pay roughly $661 million to settle DOJ charges of violating the FCPA by bribing Ecuadorean officials to secure business with Ecuador’s state-owned oil company Petroecuador.  According to the government and Gunvor’s admissions, the company paid roughly $100 million through various intermediaries to high-ranking officials at Petroecuador to secure oil-backed loan contracts with the state-owned company.  The scheme allowed Gunvor to receive confidential Petroecuador information, avoid a competitive bidding process for the contracts, and obtain more favorable contractual terms.

No. 2: SAP ($220M).  On January 10, German-based software company SAP SE agreed to pay roughly $220 million to settle DOJ and SEC charges of violating the FCPA by using third-party intermediaries and consultants to pay bribes to government officials in South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Indonesia, and Azerbaijan to secure government contracts in those countries.  According to the government, the company recorded the bribes as legitimate business expenses in its books and records.

No. 3: Trafigura ($126M).  On March 28, Swiss-based international commodities trading company Trafigura Beheer pleaded guilty and agreed to pay roughly $126 million to settle DOJ charges of violating the FCPA by bribing Brazilian government officials to secure business with Brazil’s state-owned and controlled oil company Petrobras.  According to the government and court documents, Trafigura concealed the bribes through shell companies and by funneling them through intermediaries who used offshore bank accounts to deliver cash to officials in Brazil.

No. 4: RTX ($124M).  On October 16, Virginia-based aerospace and defense company RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies) agreed to pay $124 million to settle SEC charges of violating the FCPA by making illicit payments to Qatari military and other officials to obtain Qatari military contracts.  The SEC also charged the company with paying more than $30 million to a relative of the Qatari Emir to secure additional Qatari defense contracts.

No. 5: AAR ($55M).  On December 19, Illinois-based AAR Corp. agreed to pay $55 million to settle DOJ and SEC charges of violating the FCPA by paying bribes to secure business from state-owned airlines in Nepal and South Africa.  According to the DOJ, AAR bribed Nepali officials to secure business with the state-owned Nepal Airlines Corporation relating to the sale of two Airbus A330-200 aircrafts.  The company likewise bribed South African officials to obtain an aircraft component support contract with state-owned South African Airways.

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If you would like to learn more about any of these settlements or what it means to be an FCPA whistleblower, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We will connect you with an experienced member of the Constantine Cannon whistleblower team.  The government wants to hear from you.  So do we!

Read Top FCPA Recoveries for 2024 at constantinecannon.com