In the Matter of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (2021)

• Case Name
• In the Matter of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (2021)

• Date Filed
• 01/08/2021

• Enforcement Agency
• SEC

• Foreign Official
• Unnamed Abu Dhabi government officials; unnamed regional tax judge in Italy; and unnamed Chinese government official.

• Date of Conduct
• 2009 to 2016

• Nature of Business
• Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (“Deutsche Bank”) is a global financial institution headquartered in the Frankfurt, Germany. Deutsche Bank maintains common stock publicly traded on the NYSE and registered with the SEC pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act.

• Influence to be Obtained
• According to the SEC, from 2009 and 2016, third party intermediates, namely “business development consultants”, hired by Deutsche Bank made corrupt payments to foreign officials and the corresponding transactions were falsely recorded on the bank’s books and records. The consultants acted as proxies to foreign officials to obtain lucrative transaction work in Abu Dhabi, China, and Italy. Allegedly, payments to the consultants were not subject to meaningful due diligence and were made without invoices or adequate documentation of services provided.
  
  The bank allegedly identified internal accounting control failures in 2009 related to the use of business development consultants but did not remediate the issue until 2016.

• Enforcement
• On January 8, 2021, the SEC settled its enforcement action against Deutsche Bank for violating the internal controls and books-and-records provisions of the FCPA by issuing a cease-and-desist order. Deutsche Bank was ordered to pay disgorgement of $35.1 million and prejudgment interest of $8.2 million. It did not impose a civil penalty based on a penalty assessed by the DOJ against the bank in a parallel investigation.
  
  Indeed, on the same day, the DOJ announced that it had entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with Deutsche Bank on December 18, 2020, pursuant to which the bank agreed to pay a criminal monetary penalty of $87,091,424.

• Amount of the Value
• Not stated.

• Amount of Business Related to Payment
• Not stated.

• Intermediary
• Third-party consultants.

• Citizenship of Parent Entity
• Germany

• Total Sanction
• $ 43,329,622

• Compliance Monitor
• No

• Reporting Requirements
• Yes (3 Years)

• Case is Pending?
• No

• Total Combined Monetary Sanction
• $ 130,421,046

• Related Enforcement Actions
• United States v. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (E.D.N.Y. 2020)
  

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

• Citation
• In the Matter of Deutsche Bank AG, Admin. Proc. File No. 3-20200 (January 8, 2021).

• Date Filed
• 01/08/2021

• Filed Under Seal
• No

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

• Other Statutory Provision
• None.

• Disposition
• Cease-and-Desist Order, Cease-and-Desist Order

• Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
• Issuer

• Defendant's Citizenship
• Germany

• Individual Sanction
• $43,329,622.