It’s well known that during times of financial hardship, crime goes up. So no one should be surprised that corporate crime goes up during a recession.

The Department of Justice announced last week that it filed a forfeiture action against approximately $3 million in accounts held in Singapore. The DOJ alleges that this money was used to pay off officials in Bangladesh. The kicker is that some

Just in case you forgot that the U.S. government applies the FCPA to foreign companies that operate within the United States, here is a reminder.

A new report released today in Berlin by Transparency International (TI) ranks 34 countries in regard to their overall corruption-fighting efforts, with some surprising results. The bottom four? Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada. According to TI, the four countries had “practically no investigations or extremely

Willbros Group, Inc. and its subsidiary, Willbros International, agreed to pay $32.3 million in a settlement with the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve allegations of FCPA violations. Of that

The CEO of Denver-based Grynberg Productions is trying a new strategy to escape possible FCPA violations: suing a bunch of his rivals. This month Jack Grynberg, the eponymous chairman of the oil company, sued British oil company BP, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward, Former BP Chief Executive John Browne, Norway’s Statoil and others, accusing [...]

Either investigative techniques used to uncover FCPA violations are improving, more companies are doing it or it’s just getting more attention from the DOJ. But whatever the reason, FCPA cases are a dime a dozen these days. The most recent alleged violator: Shell Oil. The company is being looked into by the Department of Justice [...]

Last year Stryker Corp came under fire for illegal payments to U.S. doctors. This year, that might be topped. The company announced in an SEC filing last month that it is being investigated by the Department of Justice for “possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” While not many specific details [...]

Alcoa was sued yesterday by Aluminum Bahrain BSC in a U.S. federal court for allegations of overcharging, fraud and bribery. Aluminum Bahrain BSC, better known as Alba, says it was overcharged by Alcoa for alumina (pictured), a key ingredient in creating aluminum. The company says it paid excesses of about $65 million per [...]

Will there ever be an end to the Oil-for-Food abuses? Flowserve Corporation announced last Thursday that it will pay nearly $10.6 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice for violating the United Nation’s Iraq Oil-for-Food humanitarian program. A Dutch and French-based subsidiary of the company, Flowserve [...]

The World Bank announced it won’t be giving any more money to Lahmeyer International after the company was found guilty of bribing officials responsible for lending contracts for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a multi-billion dollar operation. The German engineering firm was found guilty of fraud by the government of Lesotho and fined

The European engineering firm Siemens just learned that it might be fined as much as €4 billion (close to $6 billion) by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as the result of a large bribery investigation that began in 2006. The number is about three times the amount of bribes that were uncovered [...]

Bribery, according to the DOJ. Lucent technologies helped wrap up a DOJ investigation on Tuesday by agreeing to pay $1 million for FCPA violations. From 2000 to 2003 the company reportedly spent over $10 million on about 315 various trips for approximately 1,000 Chinese government officials. This included all expense paid trips [...]

A new case this week proves that the FCPA doesn’t just cover the back offices of large, powerful businesses. Even individuals and small businesses can and will be prosecuted for violations. Gerald Green, a Hollywood producer, and his wife Patricia were arrested for allegedly bribing a Thai official as much as $1.7 million [...]

While Neelie Kroes and the hard-hitting men and women of the European Commission are busy bruising up large corporations with fines for antitrust violations, it seems the United States is involved in its own crackdown. They’re on a mission to remind everyone that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act doesn’t just apply to American

York International agreed to pay $10 million to the U.S. government on Monday to resolve allegations that some of its employees paid bribes to Iraqi officials.

Paradigm BV, a provider of “enterprise software solutions” to the oil and natural gas industry, entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday regarding Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations. Illegal payments Paradigm made to China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico and Nigeria were self-reported to the Department of Justice by the company [...]

A new study released today by Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS) revealed that, despite recent high profile abuses, U.S. companies still lag behind their European counterparts when it comes to doing business ethically. However, businesses have significantly improved corporate social responsibility (CSR) across the globe today than 25 years ago, the study says.
As report [...]

A British businessman and two Ikea managers pleaded guilty on Sept. 7 to charges dealing with bribery. Adam David Hauxwell-Smith, owner of Godfrey and Warner Ltd, a company that sold items such as potpourri, candles and picture frames to Ikea, admitted to giving £648,000 to John Brown, a purchaser for Ikea, and £243,437 to [...]

Time Magazine, the magazine publishing arm of Time Warner Inc., was ordered to pay $106 in damages last Monday for defaming former Indonesian dictator Suharto. On August 31, the Supreme Court overturned rulings by the Central District Jakarta and the Jakarta High Court, both of which sided in Time Magazine’s favor.
The article in question, [...]

A new study commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, an independent UK government department established to protect public health, found that certain artificial colors and additives in food can lead to hyperactivity disorder in children. It’s believed that the new study will pressure the food and drink industry to remove certain artificial colors and additives [...]

The European Federation of Wine and Spirits Importers and Distributors (EFWSID) raised complaints with The European Commission on Thursday over the lack of competition in glass bottle manufacturing. The EFWSID believes a lack of competition has caused the price of glass bottles to increase.
The Belgian Federation of Wine and Spirits, a member of the [...]

After thirteen years of serious discussion, China passed its first national anti-monopoly law on Thursday which will take effect August 1, 2008. The new law is intended to encourage “fair competition and further open up the economy.”
Government officials have said that the new rules will not differentiate between foreign or domestic companies.  However, China [...]

Earlier this week, The Observer’s Good Companies Guide unveiled its list of the UK’s top 20 firms in the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 350 index, based on social, environmental and corporate governance criteria. The little-known Speedy Hire, an equipment rental company, made the top spot on the list for what The Observer [...]

Textron has agreed to pay $4.6 million in fines for bribing officials of Suddam Hussein’s government in order to acquire Iraqi contracts through the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food program. The fines are divided into the amounts of $1.15 million and $3.5 million between the Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, respectively.
The [...]