Handicapping The FCPA

We heard a few days ago (here) that some Siemens insiders are trying to calculate the company's potential financial penalties for alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act offenses. Apparently the insiders think that past FCPA settlements reveal a correlation between the amount of bribes paid and the financial penalties imposed on the organizations. We don't think the correlation exists, but we're never going to be mistaken for mathematicians. So we're providing the raw data below in case any real mathematicians are paying attention.

Who knows? Maybe there is a pattern after all. Even so, we don't advise anyone to decide about FCPA compliance after a cost - benefit analysis. For individuals, there is a 100% chance that an FCPA offense can result in five years behind bars. No matter how you figured it beforehand, ending up in prison will always turn out to be an enormous tragedy. And no, we're not suggesting that organizations should compute their odds. The only bet that makes any sense is to comply.

So for purely academic purposes, here are the numbers. They're for FCPA matters that companies resolved with the SEC, DOJ or both during 2007. As a caveat, most of the companies also agreed to appoint monitors or compliance consultants. The cost of doing that is not included in the amounts shown. As we've learned from John Ashcroft's recent appointment by Zimmer Holdings in a domestic bribery case, monitors can cost millions or even tens of millions of dollars a year. Nor do the numbers reveal the damage done to the fabric of organizations by FCPA problems, and the ruined lives of men and women who lost their jobs and perhaps a lot more because of non-compliance.

El Paso Corp., Feb. 7, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: approximately $5.5 million. Financial penalties: $7.65 million ($5.4 million in disgorgement and a $2.25 million civil penalty).

The Dow Chemical Co., Feb. 13, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: about $200,000. Financial penalties: $325,000 civil penalty.

Baker Hughes Inc., Apr. 26, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: $15.4 million. Financial penalties: $44 million (about $22 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest, a $10 million civil penalty for violating a prior cease-and-desist order, and an $11 million criminal fine).

Delta & Pine Land Co., July 26, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: $43,000. Financial penalties: $300,000 civil penalty.

Textron Inc., Aug. 23, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: about $650,000. Financial penalties: about $4.5 million (over $3 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest, an $800,000 civil penalty, and a $1.15 million fine).

Bristow Group, Inc., Sept. 26, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: over $423,000. Financial penalties: Nil.

York International Corp., Oct. 1, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: about $7.5 million. Financial penalties: $22 million (over $10 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest, a civil penalty of $2 million, and a $10 million fine).

Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd., Oct. 31, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: over $1.5 million. Financial penalties: $6.7 million (over $2.2 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest, a $1.95 million civil penalty, and a $2.5 million fine).

Chevron Corp., Nov. 14, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: over $20 million. Financial penalties: $30 million ($25 million in disgorgement, a $3 million civil penalty and a $2 million penalty to the Office of Foreign Asset Controls of the U.S. Department of the Treasury).

Akzo Nobel NV, Dec. 20, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: $280,000. Financial penalties: $2.9 million (over $2.2 million in disgorgement and a $750,000 civil penalty).

Lucent Technologies, Inc., Dec. 21, 2007 Amount of alleged bribes: at least $1.3 million. Financial penalties: $2.5 million ($1.5 million civil penalty and a $1 million fine).

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