A&O Shearman FCPA Digest | United States v. Rolls-Royce PLC (S.D. Ohio 2016)

Source Documents

Foreign Official
Unnamed government officials in Angola, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Thailand.

Nature of Business
Rolls-Royce plc, a British multinational public holding company, is the world’s second largest manufacturer of aircraft engines and also maintains major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Since 2002, Rolls-Royce has been a publically traded company in the United Kingdom. Rolls-Royce Energy Systems, Inc. (“RRESI”) is an indirect subsidiary of Rolls-Royce headquartered in Mount Vernon, Ohio. RRESI produced and supplied gas turbines, compressors, and aftermarket products and services for oil and gas and power generation projects worldwide

Influence to be Obtained
According to the DOJ, between 2000 and 2013, Rolls-Royce, certain employees, and RRESI conspired to cause RRESI to make over $35 million in commission payments to commercial advisors and others while knowing that the commission payments would be used to bribe foreign officials on behalf of Rolls-Royce and RRESI in Thailand, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Angola, Iraq, and elsewhere. The DOJ claims that the bribe payments were in exchange for foreign officials' assistance in providing confidential information and awarding contracts to Rolls-Royce, RRESI, and other affiliated entities.

Enforcement
On January 17, 2017, the DOJ announced that it had unsealed charges against Rolls-Royce involving violations of the FCPA. According to a deferred prosecution agreement, Rolls Royce would pay a $169,917,710 criminal penalty after the company allegedly conspired to violate the FCPA. The DOJ’s sanction against Rolls Royce was part of an $800 million global resolution of investigations by U.S., U.K., and Brazilian authorities.