BAE grabbed the headlines recently with the $400 million settlement, but there are many other companies that have announced provisions in their company filings in respect of FCPA settlements:
Innospec, a UK speciality chemicals company, has now made accruals totaling $40.2 million in anticipation of a settlement of between $28.8 and $40.2 million (here) in respect of Oil for Food allegations
Alcatel is to pay $137 million in respect of a Costa Rican contracts (here)
Technip has reserved Euro245 million to settle allegation relating to the Nigerian Bonny Island LNG project (here)
These have all been announced this year and all involve non-US companies. We can assume that there are a number of other Oil For Food settlements in the offing (we estimate that there are around 15 to 20 Oil For Food subpoenas outstanding of which we assume not all have been dropped), there are the other Nigerian LNG JV partners (Snamprogetti and JGC) and others.
The UK prosecutions also seem to be adding vigor to the SFO’s efforts in advance of the next OECD anti-corruption review, which we understand will focus on enforcement as opposed to just implementing legislation. We also understand from Mark Mendelsohn at the recent Miami White Collar ABA conference that he is leaving a department that is getting bigger and even more aggressive. He stressed that individuals are going to remain an increasing focus (44 indictments outstanding in 2009/10 as opposed to less than 10 in 2008) as well as efforts to encourage non-US enforcement. The message has to be that non-US companies are perhaps a disproportionate target and the DoJ doesn’t like jurisdictional arguments.
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