Double declination for Zimmer

Following a five-year investigation into the overseas marketing and sales practices of medical device makers, the DOJ and SEC won't bring any FCPA enforcement against one of the targeted companies, Zimmer Holdings Inc.

Click to read more ...

Zimmer's latest FCPA disclosure (November 2012)

Medical device maker Zimmer Holdings, Inc. said in an SEC filing yesterday that it can't predict the outcome of DOJ and SEC investigations into its overseas sales practices.

Click to read more ...

Why Is SEC Enforcement Lagging?

So far in 2012, the SEC by its own count has brought only five enforcement actions.

Click to read more ...

A Baker’s Half Dozen FCPA Issues for the First Half of 2012

Tom Fox with a great summary of the biggest FCPA stories from the first half of 2012.

Click to read more ...

Smith & Nephew Reaches $22 Million Settlement

U.K.-based medical device maker Smith & Nephew plc agreed to pay $22.2 million to settle Foreign Corrupt Practices Act offenses committed by its U.S. and German subsidiaries. The company admitted bribing government-employed doctors in Greece for more than a decade to win business.

Click to read more ...

Despite Hung Jury, Sting Defendants Want Acquittal

The four Africa sting defendants who ended up in a mistrial are asking the judge to acquit them on the FCPA conspiracy count.

Click to read more ...

Johnson & Johnson In $77 Million Global Settlement

Johnson & Johnson will pay a $21.4 million penalty to resolve criminal FCPA charges with the DOJ and $48.6 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest to settle the SEC’s civil charges.

Click to read more ...

The 2011 Watch List

Of the 150 files in the DOJ's hopper, our watch list includes more than half of them.

Click to read more ...

SFO Facing Uncertain Future

For the second time in recent months, U.K. judges have warned the Serious Fraud Office not to make plea deals in overseas bribery cases, throwing into doubt the agency's whistleblower program and its partnership with the U.S. Justice Department in resolving global corruption cases.

This week a U.K. appeals court affirmed the suspended sentence agreed between the SFO and a former sales executive who helped bribe Greek doctors and then turned whistleblower. But at the same time, the court said the SFO's U.S.-style approach was unconstitutional.

Robert John Dougall, 45, formerly marketing director of DePuy, pleaded guilty in April to making £4.5 million in corrupt payments to Greek medical professionals within the state-controlled healthcare system. DePuy, acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1999, makes and sells orthopedic devices. 

The SFO said Dougall was the first "co-operating defendant" in a major SFO corruption investigation. It had recommended leniency in exchange for his guilty plea and help in the case, as typically happens in U.S. white-collar prosecutions. The SFO asked for a suspended sentence; the trial court instead sent Dougall to prison for a year.

The appeals court reversed the sentence but hammered the SFO. It said "agreements between the prosecution and the defense about the sentences to be imposed in fraud and corruption cases were constitutionally forbidden" and solely under the purview of judges, according to reports.

In March, Britain's second-ranking criminal judge said the $12.7 million fine the SFO agreed with a U.K. division of Innospec Inc. went beyond the SFO's authority. Delaware-based Innospec had reached what it believed was a $40 million global settlement with U.S. prosecutors and the SFO.

At Innospec's hearing, Lord Justice Thomas, the deputy head of criminal justice in the U.K. courts, said: “I have concluded that the director of the SFO had no power to enter into the arrangements made and no such arrangements should be made again.” Although he confirmed the U.K. part of the fine agreed by the SFO, he called the amount "wholly inadequate." See our post here.

The SFO first charged Dougall in November 2009 after a "referral" from the U.S. Justice Department. Two months earlier, DePuy and four other orthopedic device makers -- Biomet, Zimmer, Smith & Nephew and Stryker -- had agreed to pay $310 million to settle charges they paid kickbacks to induce U.S. doctors to buy their products. Since the U.S. settlement, the four companies, along with Medtronic Inc. and Wright Medical Group, have disclosed DOJ and SEC Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations. See our post here.

DePuy Exec Jailed

The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office said this week that a former DePuy executive pleaded guilty to making £4.5 million in corrupt payments to Greek medical professionals within the state-controlled healthcare system. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Robert John Dougall, 45, was DePuy's marketing director. The company, acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1999, makes and sells orthodpedic devices. The SFO said from 2002 to 2005, Dougall arranged the payment of commissions to surgeons as an inducement to use DePuy's products. The payments were made through agents and offshore accounts.

The SFO said its investigation began "following a referral by the U.S. Department of Justice in October 2007."  Dougall, it said, is the first "co-operating defendant" in a major SFO corruption investigation, which is ongoing.

Dougall was first charged by the SFO in November 2009. In September 2007, DePuy and four other orthopedic device makers -- Biomet, Zimmer, Smith & Nephew and Stryker -- agreed to pay $310 million to settle charges they paid kickbacks to induce U.S. doctors to buy their products. Since the U.S. settlement, the four companies, along with Medtronic Inc. and Wright Medical Group, have disclosed DOJ and SEC Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations. See our post here.

A copy of the SFO's April 14, 2010 release can be viewed here.