A&O Shearman FCPA Digest | United States v. Marubeni Corporation (S.D. Tex. 2012)

Source Documents

Nature of Business
Marubeni Corporation, a foreign trading company organized under the laws of Japan, was an agent of the four-company joint venture formed in 1990 for bidding on a series of contracts to design and build a liquefied natural gas plant and several expansions in Bonny Island, Nigeria. The joint venture consisted of Technip S.A., Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V., Kellogg, Brown & Root, Inc., and JGC Corporation (collectively, “TSKJ”).

Influence to be Obtained
According to court documents, Marubeni was hired to pay bribes to lower-level Nigerian officials in connection with the Bonny Island project. On two occasions, an employee of Marubeni allegedly met with successive holders of a top-level Nigerian office to ask the office holder to designate a representative with whom TSKJ should negotiate bribes to Nigerian government officials.

TSKJ transferred $51 million to Marubeni’s bank account in Japan during the course of the bribery scheme, intending these funds to be used, in part, to bribe Nigerian officials. Marubeni’s alleged co-conspirators transferred another $132 million to bank accounts controlled by Jeffrey Tesler, another agent of the joint venture, for Tesler to use to bribe Nigerian government officials.

Enforcement
On January 17, 2012, the DOJ and Marubeni Corporation entered into a deferred prosecution agreement under which Marubeni agreed to pay a $54.6 million penalty. Marubeni also implemented and agreed to continue complying with a compliance and ethics program designed to prevent and detect violations of the FCPA, the anti-corruption provisions of Japanese law, and other applicable anti-corruption laws. Marubeni further agreed to engage an independent corporate compliance consultant to evaluate Marubeni’s corporate compliance program with respect to the FCPA and Japanese anti-corruption laws.

Amount of the Value
Approximately $51 million transferred to Marubeni’s bank account in Japan during the course of the bribery scheme, to be used, in part, to bribe Nigerian officials.