Commodities Trading Company Pleads Guilty to FCPA Violations

An international commodities trading company pled guilty and agreed to pay monetary penalties to resolve DOJ charges for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA").

The company had been charged with bribing Brazilian government officials to secure business with Brazil’s state-owned and state-controlled oil company. According to a DOJ press release, the company and its co-conspirators "agreed to make bribe payments of up to 20 cents per barrel of oil ... and to conceal the bribe payments through the use of shell companies, and by funneling payments through intermediaries who used offshore bank accounts to deliver cash to officials in Brazil."

The DOJ found that the company profited approximately $61 million from the corrupt scheme and said that the company will pay a criminal fine of $80,488,040 and forfeiture of $46,510,257. Further, the DOJ stated that it will credit up to $26,829,346 of the criminal fine against amounts the company pays to resolve an investigation by law enforcement authorities in Brazil for related conduct.