Canadian company FeelGood Natural Health Stores pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act by exporting and selling harp seal oil capsules in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the DOJ announced. The company faces a maximum fine of $500,000 and five years' probation. However, as part of the plea deal, the U.S. and FeelGood recommended a $20,000 fine and three years' probation during which the firm "must create and implement a compliance plan, train its employees, obtain any necessary licenses, and cooperate fully with the government."
Technological research firm Gartner settled charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, agreeing to pay over $2.5 million, the SEC said in a May 26 order implementing cease-and-desist proceedings. The company allegedly bribed officials of the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) to "obtain and retain business from" SARS. The SEC said a manager of Gartner's consulting wing authorized the firm to enter into subcontracts with an unnamed South African information technology consulting firm, adding that the manager either knew or disregarded the possibility that the money paid to the tech firm would be paid to the SARS officials in exchange for contracts. Under the settlement, the company will pay $1.6 million in civil penalties, $675,974 in disgorgement and $180,790 in prejudgment interest.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed a suit from a group of investors that accused Ericsson of misleading them about elements of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act proceeding. Judge William Kuntz sided with Ericsson, ruling that the investors failed to claim that the company made misstatements since the alleged lies were "immaterial as a matter of law" or not false when made (In Re Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson Securities Litigation, E.D.N.Y. # 22-1167).
Ross Roggio of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was convicted for a host of crimes including illegally shipping export-controlled firearms parts to Iraq and operating an illegal weapons manufacturing plant in Kurdistan, DOJ announced. Roggio was also convicted of torture and for arranging for Kurdish soldiers to abduct an Estonian citizen and detain him at a Kurdish military compound, where Roggio tortured the man. The victim worked at a weapons factory Roggio was developing in Iraq to manufacture M4 rifles and Glock pistols.
Cary Yan, former president of a New York-based non-governmental organization, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for paying bribes to Marshall Islands officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. Yan conspired with his assistant, Gina Zhou, as part of a bribery scheme to pass legislation that would benefit Yan's business interests. Zhou was sentenced in February to two years and seven months in prison.
DOJ this week unsealed indictments of six people for trying to illegally ship sensitive items from the U.S., including shipments of dual-use technologies and aircraft parts to Russia, isostatic graphite to Iran and trade secrets to China. The charges are the first enforcement actions brought by the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, a group launched by DOJ and the Commerce Department in February to investigate and prosecute criminal export violations (see 2302160019).
Amsterdam-based multinational conglomerate Koninklijke Philips will pay more than $62 million to settle charges it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related to its sales of medical diagnostic equipment in China, the SEC announced. Without admitting guilt, Philips agreed to pay $15 million in civil penalties and over $47 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest.
DOJ seized 13 web domains used by Specially Designated Nationals and Global Terrorists and their members linked with Lebanese Hezbollah. The department received court authorization to seize five domains registered to the Public Interest Registry and eight domains registered to Verisign, DOJ said May 11. It said sanctioned parties cannot "obtain services, including website and domain services," without a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York should toss the U.S. claim that FTX crypto-exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's anti-bribery provision since the government failed to allege an essential element of the FCPA, Bankman-Fried said in a motion to dismiss. The U.S. said payments were made to unfreeze assets belonging to cryptocurrency firm Alameda Research but didn't say payments were made to "secure or retain a contract with a foreign government agency, gain an unfair advantage, or achieve an objective of the sort addressed in the FCPA’s text or legislative history or in relevant caselaw" (U.S. v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, S.D.N.Y. # 22-00673).
New York lawyer Robert Wise pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to make around $3.8 million in payments to maintain six real properties in the U.S. owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Wise pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and faces a maximum of five years in prison, DOJ said April 25. He also forfeited more than $3.7 million and agreed "to be satisfied" by a $210,441 payment.