In the Matter of Bruker Corporation (2014)

• Case Name
• In the Matter of Bruker Corporation (2014)

• Date Filed
• 12/15/2014

• Enforcement Agency
• SEC

• Countries
• China

• Foreign Official
• Employees of Chinese state-owned entities.

• Date of Conduct
• 2005 to 2012

• Nature of Business
• Bruker Corporation is a Delaware corporation with its headquarters located in Billerica, Massachusetts.  Bruker designs, manufactures, and markets analytical, life science, and material research systems, including infrared spectrometers and microscopes.  The company maintains a class of common stock registered on the NASDAQ exchange

• Influence to be Obtained
• According to the SEC’s cease‑and‑desist order, between 2005 and 2012, Bruker engaged in two different practices to improperly influence employees of Chinese state‑owned entities who were responsible for awarding the company valuable sales agreements.
  
  First, according to the SEC, Bruker paid for Chinese officials to take extensive travel throughout North America and Europe when the travel retained no legitimate business purpose.  Occasionally, the travel was in connection with a business trip, but according to the SEC, the bulk of the travel expenses were related to leisure and sightseeing trips which had no connection to Bruker’s business operations.  In other instances, the SEC claims Bruker paid for Chinese officials to travel to New York and Los Angeles, cities where no Bruker facilities existed, for the sole purpose of sightseeing.  In total, the SEC reported that Bruker paid for Chinese officials to take seventeen different leisure trips and, as a result, the SEC claims Bruker earned $1,131,740 in profits from sales contracts awarded by the Chinese officials.
  
  Second, the SEC also states that Bruker entered into a series of “Collaboration Agreements” whereby the relevant state‑owned entities would agree to provide research on Bruker products and to use Bruker products in demonstration laboratories.  In reality, according to the SEC, the state-owned entities provided no services to Bruker, and the Collaboration Agreements merely enabled Bruker officials to funnel improper payments to Chinese officials in exchange for sales agreements which netted the company $583,112 in profits.

• Enforcement
• On December 15, 2014, the SEC announced that it settled charges with Bruker over multiple violations of the FCPA’s books‑and‑records and internal controls provisions.  According to the cease‑and‑desist order, Bruker would agree to pay a total corporate penalty of $2,399,969.

• Amount of the Value
• $230,938.

• Amount of Business Related to Payment
• Approximately $1.7 million in profit.

• Intermediary
• Subsidiaries.

• Citizenship of Parent Entity
• United States

• Total Sanction
• $ 2,399,969

• Compliance Monitor
• No

• Reporting Requirements
• No

• Case is Pending?
• No

Bruker Corporation 

• Citation
• In the Matter of Bruker Corp., Admin. Proc. File No. 3-16314 (Dec. 15, 2014).

• Date Filed
• 12/15/2014

• Filed Under Seal
• No

• FCPA Statutory Provision
• • Books-and-Records
  • Internal Controls

• Other Statutory Provision
• None

• Disposition
• Cease-and-Desist Order

• Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
• Issuer

• Defendant's Citizenship
• United States