SEC v. Uriel Sharef, Ulrich Bock, Carlos Sergi, Stephan Signer, Herbert Steffen, Andres Truppel, and Bernd Regendantz (S.D.N.Y. 2011)
Case Details
- Case Name
- SEC v. Uriel Sharef, Ulrich Bock, Carlos Sergi, Stephan Signer, Herbert Steffen, Andres Truppel, and Bernd Regendantz (S.D.N.Y. 2011)
- Foreign Official
- Argentine government officials.
- Date of Conduct
-
1996 to 2007
- Nature of Business
- Siemens AG is an engineering company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Siemens Business Services GmbH & Co. (“SBS”) and Siemens S.A. (“Siemens Argentina”) are both subsidiaries of Siemens AG. All allegations in this case are related to a project to develop a new national identity card in Argentina.
All of the defendants are non-U.S. citizens. Uriel Sharef, a dual citizen of Germany and Israel, was a member of Siemens AG’s Managing Board. Herbert Steffen, a citizen of Germany, was group president of Siemens AG’s transportation systems operating group, and was previously CEO of Siemens Argentina. Andres Truppel, a dual citizen of Germany and Argentina, was a consultant to Siemens, and previously CFO of Siemens Argentina. Ulrich Bock, a citizen of Germany, was a consultant to Siemens, and previously commercial head of SBS’s Major Projects subdivision. Eberhard Reichert, a citizen of Germany, was technical head of SBS’s Major Projects subdivision. Stephan Signer, a citizen of Germany, worked for SBS as a commercial director. Carlos Sergi, a citizen of Argentina, was a businessman with extensive high-level government contracts in Argentina. Miguel Czysch, a citizen of Argentina, was a business associate of Carlos Sergi.
- Influence to be Obtained
- In 1994, the Government of Argentina issued a tender for bids to replace an existing system of manually created national identity booklets with state-of-the-art national identity cards (the “DNI Project”). According to the Indictment, the defendants paid and promised to pay bribes to Argentine government officials to obtain the contract, which was eventually awarded to Siemens. The defendants worked to conceal the illicit payments through various means, including sham contracts and shell companies associated with Sergi, Czysch and other intermediaries. In May 1999, however, the Argentine government suspended the DNI project. When a new government took power in Argentine, and in the hopes of getting the DNI project resumed, the defendants allegedly paid additional bribes to the incoming officials. When the project was terminated in May 2001, the defendants allegedly responded with a multi-faceted strategy to overcome the termination. According to the Indictment, the defendants sought to recover the anticipated proceeds of the DNI project, notwithstanding the termination, by causing Siemens AG to file a fraudulent arbitration claim against the Republic of Argentina. Defendants allegedly caused Siemens to actively hide from the arbitral tribunal the fact that the DNI contract had been secured through bribery and corruption. A separate arbitration was initiated in Switzerland to enforce a sham contract between SBS and Mfast Consulting, a shell company controlled by intermediaries Sergi and Czysch. The Indictment also alleges that the defendants continued the bribery scheme until August 2009, to prevent disclosure of the bribery in the arbitration and to ensure Siemens’s ability to secure future government contracts in Argentina.
- Enforcement
- On December 13, 2011, the DOJ filed a criminal indictment against the defendants, alleging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The DOJ also brought substantive wire fraud allegations. On December 15, 2011, the government sent a letter to the court stating that the defendants all reside overseas and that none of the defendants were currently in custody.
In September 2015, Andres Truppel appeared before the district court and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. On March 13, 2020, Truppel was sentenced to time served.
On December 22, 2017, Eberhard Reichert appeared before the S.D.N.Y. and pleaded not guilty to the DOJ’s charges against him. Reichert was arrested in Croatia in September 2017 and agreed to be extradited to the United States. In March 2018, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery, internal controls, and books-and-records provisions. On April 17, 2020, Reichert was sentenced to time served. The remaining six co-defendants remain at large.
In a parallel enforcement action, the SEC filed a civil complaint on December 13, 2011, alleging similar facts against many of the defendants in the DOJ case, excluding Eberhard Reichert and Miguel Czysch, but including Bernd Regendantz. Regendantz was the only defendant to settle with the SEC when the civil complaint and criminal indictment were filed, and he is the only SEC defendant that is not included in the DOJ Indictment.
Previous DOJ and SEC actions against Siemens AG and its subsidiaries were filed and settled in 2008, in part based on the alleged conduct in Argentina. In the criminal action, all corporate defendants pleaded guilty (Siemens Argentina to conspiring to falsify Siemens AG’s books; Siemens AG to wire fraud, books and records, and internal controls; Siemens Bangladesh and Siemens Venezuela to FCPA bribery charges), and agreed to pay criminal fines totaling $450 million. In the parallel SEC action against the corporate defendants, Siemens AG agreed to disgorge more than $350 million in ill-gotten profits. Siemens also settled with German authorities, agreeing to pay a total of €596 million in penalties.
- Amount of the Value
- Approximately $100 million.
- Amount of Business Related to Payment
- Approximately $1 billion.
- Intermediary
- Consultants;Agents; Shell companies.
- Citizenship of Parent Entity
- Germany
- Total Sanction
- $ 1,856,957
- Reporting Requirements
- No
- Total Combined Monetary Sanction
- $ 1,856,957
Defendants
Uriel Sharef
- Citation
- SEC v. Sharef, et al., No. 11-cv-09073 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
- FCPA Statutory Provision
-
- Aiding and Abetting: Anti-Bribery
- Aiding and Abetting: Books-and-Records
- Aiding and Abetting: Internal Controls
- Other Statutory Provision
- Exchange Act Rule 13b2-1 (Falsifying Documents).
- Disposition
- Complaint and Consent Order
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Agent of Issuer
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Israel, Germany
- Individual Sanction
- $275,000.
Ulrich Bock
- Citation
- SEC v. Sharef, et al., No. 11-cv-09073 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
- FCPA Statutory Provision
-
- Aiding and Abetting: Anti-Bribery
- Aiding and Abetting: Books-and-Records
- Aiding and Abetting: Internal Controls
- Other Statutory Provision
- Exchange Act Rule 13b2-1 (Falsifying Documents).
- Disposition
- Complaint and Default Judgment
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Agent of Issuer
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Germany
- Individual Sanction
- $937,957.
Carlos Sergi
- Citation
- SEC v. Sharef, et al., No. 11-cv-09073 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
- FCPA Statutory Provision
-
- Aiding and Abetting: Anti-Bribery
- Aiding and Abetting: Books-and-Records
- Aiding and Abetting: Internal Controls
- Other Statutory Provision
- Exchange Act Rule 13b2-1 (Falsifying Documents).
- Disposition
- Charges Dismissed
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Agent of Issuer
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Argentina
- Individual Sanction
- Dismissed
Stephan Signer
- Citation
- SEC v. Sharef, et al., No. 11-cv-09073 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
- FCPA Statutory Provision
-
- Aiding and Abetting: Anti-Bribery
- Aiding and Abetting: Books-and-Records
- Aiding and Abetting: Internal Controls
- Other Statutory Provision
- Exchange Act Rule 13b2-1 (Falsifying Documents).
- Disposition
- Complaint and Default Judgment
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Agent of Issuer
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Germany
- Individual Sanction
- $524,000.
Herbert Steffen
- Citation
- SEC v. Sharef, et al., No. 11-cv-09073 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
- FCPA Statutory Provision
-
- Aiding and Abetting: Anti-Bribery
- Aiding and Abetting: Books-and-Records
- Aiding and Abetting: Internal Controls
- Other Statutory Provision
- Exchange Act Rule 13b2-1 (Falsifying Documents).
- Disposition
- Charges Dismissed
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Unknown
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Germany
Andres Truppel
- Citation
- SEC v. Sharef, et al., No. 11-cv-09073 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
- FCPA Statutory Provision
-
- Aiding and Abetting: Anti-Bribery
- Aiding and Abetting: Books-and-Records
- Aiding and Abetting: Internal Controls
- Other Statutory Provision
- Exchange Act Rule 13b2-1 (Falsifying Documents).
- Disposition
- Complaint and Consent Order
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Agent of Issuer
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Argentina, Germany
- Individual Sanction
- Time Served.
Bernd Regendantz
- Citation
- SEC v. Sharef, et al., No. 11-cv-09073 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
- FCPA Statutory Provision
-
- Aiding and Abetting: Anti-Bribery
- Aiding and Abetting: Books-and-Records
- Aiding and Abetting: Internal Controls
- Other Statutory Provision
- Exchange Act Rule 13b2-1 (Falsifying Documents). Exchange Act Rule 13b-2 (Falsifying Internal Certifications).
- Disposition
- Complaint and Consent Order
- Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
- Agent of Issuer
- Defendant's Citizenship
- Germany
- Individual Sanction
- $40,000.
