Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 1 United States Commercial Law Seminar Masaryk University April 11-21, 2011 Lecture Two: The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Joseph D. Lee Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 2 Readings United States v. Kay & Murphy, 359 F. 3d 738 (5th Cir. 2004) U.S. Department of Justice, Opinion Procedure Release No. 10-01 (April 19, 2010) In re Gore, SEC Exchange Act Release No. 38343 (Feb. 27, 1997) Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP Joseph Lee MTO_Book Complying with The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: A Practical Guide Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 4 Agenda §Overview of FCPA §Elements of an FCPA violation §Foreign payments provisions §Recordkeeping and internal controls provisions §Key FCPA issues §FCPA compliance programs Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 5 Overview of FCPA §Adopted in 1977 following overseas and domestic bribery scandals involving 400 major corporations §Foreign Payments §Prohibits corrupt payments to foreign officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business §Enforced by DOJ – criminal violations §Recordkeeping and Internal Controls §Requires publicly traded companies §To maintain accurate books and records §To maintain effective internal controls §Enforced by SEC – civil violation absent willful conduct Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 6 Increased Enforcement by SEC and DOJ over time Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 7 Foreign Payments Provisions 15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1 et seq. §Applicable to: §Any “issuer” of securities on a U.S. exchange §Any “domestic concern” §any U.S. citizen, resident or national §any corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship or other association organized under U.S. law or that has a principal place of business in the U.S. §Any officer, employee, agent, stockholder or principal acting on behalf of any U.S. issuer or domestic concern, or §Any person other than an issuer or domestic concern, while in the territory of the U.S. Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 8 Foreign Payments Provisions – Elements §Payment or offer or payment §Anything of value §To a foreign government official or other prohibited recipient §For the purpose of: §influencing a decision §inducing the official to act, or §securing any improper advantage §“Corruptly” §In order to §Obtain or retain business or §Direct business to any person Use my outline to supplement as necessary Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 9 Prohibited Recipients §Foreign officials §Foreign political party §Candidate for foreign office §Official of a public international organization (e.g., Olympic Organizing Committee) §Any other person knowing that the payment will be passed on to one of the above § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 10 Areas of Potential Interaction with Government Officials §Sales of products or services to government agencies §Bidding for government contracts §Governmental approvals §Permits and licenses §Real estate sales §Patents and trademark registrations §Tax authorities §Import/export: Customs and other agencies §Governmental inspections (e.g., health and safety authorities) §Lobbying activities §Charitable and political contributions §Hiring a foreign official §Putting foreign official on board of directors §Hiring a third party with a connection to a foreign official Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 11 Foreign Subsidiaries and Joint Ventures §Parent company liable if its employees authorized, directed or controlled the payments §Parent company may also be liable if its employees have knowledge of the payments §Actual knowledge §Awareness of a high probability of the existence of a circumstance §Willful blindness (consciously disregarding facts) This should probably be broken out into a series of slides Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 12 Sales Representatives, Agents and Third Parties §Knowledge standard may impose an affirmative duty to investigate §Pre-hiring protective measures §Due diligence §Embassy check §Public records check §Due diligence questionnaire §FCPA contract provisions and certifications §Training §Post-hiring oversight of third parties §Audit rights §Investigation into “red flags” § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 13 “Red Flags” §Country in question has a reputation for bribery §Unusual or excessive payment requests §Upfront payments §Payments to third country account §Payments to a third party §Cash payments §Large bonuses §Agent refuses to promise in writing to abide by anti-bribery laws §Agent is related to a foreign official §Agent is “close” to foreign officials but performs no actual services §Agent is recommended by a foreign official § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 14 Key Foreign Payments Issues §State owned enterprises §Are employees all government officials? §Government end users §Can trigger FCPA issues even if the direct customer is not a government entity §“Anything of value” §Entertainment §Travel §Benefit to official’s family members §“Corruptly” – quid pro quo §Merely building goodwill is lawful §Obtain or retain element – U.S. v. Kay decision § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 15 “Facilitating Payments” Exception §Payments “to expedite or to secure the performance of a routine governmental action by a foreign official” §Purpose: to avoid liability when §small sums are paid §to facilitate routine, non-discretionary government actions §Examples: §Processing of permits, licenses, visas, and work orders §Payments to Customs officials to expedite import/export of goods §Providing power and water supply §Recent OECD position would eliminate this exception Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 16 Affirmative Defenses §Payments permitted by the written laws of the foreign official’s country §Impractical exception because no country authorizes bribery §“Reasonable and bona fide” expenditures related to §Promotion, demonstration, or explanation of products or services §Execution of a government contract § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 17 Largest FCPA Cases §1. Siemens (Germany): $800 million in 2008 §2. KBR / Halliburton (USA): $579 million in 2009 §3. BAE (UK): $400 million in 2010 §4. Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V. / ENI S.p.A (Holland/Italy): $365 million in 2010 §5. Technip S.A. (France): $338 million in 2010 §6. Daimler AG (Germany): $185 million in 2010 §7. Alcatel-Lucent (France): $137 million in 2010 §8. Panalpina (Switzerland): $81.8 million in 2010 §9. ABB Ltd (Switzerland): $58.3 million in 2010 §10. Pride (USA): $56.1 million in 2010 Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 18 New additions to the Top 10 §“Current trends in FCPA enforcement are evident in the latest settlement with Johnson & Johnson. U.S. v. Depuy, Inc. (D.D.C. filed April 8, 2011): §“To resolve the case with DOJ and the SEC the company agreed to pay a total of $77 million, making it number ten on the list of the largest amounts paid by a company to resolve FCPA charges. This is the second addition to the top ten this year …” § § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 19 New additions to the Top 10 § “A Japanese company will pay more than $218 million to settle federal charges that it bribed officials in Nigeria as part of a decade-long conspiracy involving defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root that has netted the government $1.5 billion in fines to date. Prosecutors say the Yokohama, Japan-based JGC Corp. was the fourth member of a joint venture called TSKJ that violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a decade-long bribery scheme.” (April 11, 2011) § § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 20 Other Criminal Provisions §Mail and wire fraud §Money laundering §RICO §Travel Act §Local laws of the foreign country Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 21 DOJ Opinion Procedure §Any U.S. company or national may apply §Whether specified prospective (but not hypothetical) conduct conforms with DOJ’s present enforcement policy §Opinion must be issued within 30 days of receiving all required information §Creates rebuttable presumption of conformity with FCPA in any subsequent enforcement action §DOJ only issued one opinion in 2009 Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 22 Recordkeeping Provisions 15 U.S.C. § 78m(b)(2) §Require publicly traded companies to “make and keep books, records, and accounts which, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets” of the company §The negative pregnant §If U.S. public company owns 50% or less of foreign firm, must merely exercise good faith to ensure compliance §If U.S. company owns more than 50%, must ensure compliance § Deleted: Three types of offenses: Records that simply fail to record the improper transactions Records that are falsified to disguise aspects of improper transactions Records that correctly set forth the quantitative aspects of the transactions but fail to record the qualitative aspects that would have revealed the impropriety (such as the true purpose of payments) Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 23 Internal Controls Provisions §Go hand-in-hand with recordkeeping provisions; often charged together §Corporations must “devise and maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurances” that: §Transactions are executed as authorized by management §Transactions are recorded to permit preparation of financial statements that comply with GAAP §Access to assets is permitted only as authorized by management §Recorded accountability for assets is compared at reasonable intervals with existing assets, and appropriate action is taken re any differences Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 24 Key Issues: Accounting and Recordkeeping §No scienter requirement §Company subject to penalties even if its officers do not know about the inaccuracies §Potential strict liability when inaccurate books of foreign subsidiaries “roll up” into U.S. company’s records §No materiality requirement §Willful violations are criminal §How to correct erroneous entries §Inadvertent errors not punishable §Reclassification of entries § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 25 Penalties §Disgorgement of Profits §Prejudgment Interest Anti-Bribery Criminal Anti-Bribery Civil B&R Criminal B&R Civil Companies $2 million per violation $10,000 per violation $25 million $500,000 per violation Individuals $100,000 5 years $10,000 $5 million 20 years $100,000 per violation Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 26 FCPA Compliance Programs: Key Elements §Written policies §Gifts and entertainment §Third parties (e.g., sales reps) §FCPA training §FCPA Compliance Officer or Committee §Due diligence procedures §Standard contract provisions §Compliance with law §Audit rights Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 27 Hypothetical #1: Third Party Sales Agent §Your company has a foreign subsidiary in a high risk country §The sub uses a third party sales agent to market its services §In January 2008, the sales agent secures a long-term service contract from a governmental agency §Total payments are $30 million (U.S.) over three years §Sales agent is paid a commission of 10% ($3 million) §Sales agent also receives $20k per month retainer §Routine audit is conducted in June 2010 §Contract price is 5% higher than other comparable sales ($1.5 million) §$1 million has been paid to third party suppliers who were not approved §As of June 2010, $20 million has been paid by government §$18 million has been repatriated to U.S. parent §$2 million remains in account of foreign subsidiary § Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication ‹#› MTO_Book Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communication 28 Simpler FCPA Hypotheticals §In order to bid on a foreign government contract, your company must first be licensed to transact business in the country. §The application has been pending for several months §The company’s foreign country manager seeks your approval to pay $500 to a government clerk to “jump the licensing queue.” §Your company is introducing a new product §Product managers want to organize a conference in Las Vegas to demonstrate product’s use §They propose to pay travel and lodging for three officials of a key customer, which is partly owned by a foreign government §The officials will be accompanied by their spouses § §