United States v. Colin Steven (S.D.N.Y. 2017)

• Case Name
• United States v. Colin Steven (S.D.N.Y. 2017)

• Date Filed
• 12/21/2017

• Enforcement Agency
• DOJ

• Countries
• Saudi Arabia

• Foreign Official
• Unnamed, high-level Saudi Arabian government official. 

• Date of Conduct
• 2009 to 2011

• Nature of Business
• Embraer, S.A. is a manufacturer and exporter of mid-sized commercial jets headquartered in Brazil with operations in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  During the relevant period of time, Embraer maintained a class of common shares that were registered with the SEC and were traded in the form of American Depository Receipts listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  Colin Steven, a U.K. citizen, was the vice president of sales & marketing in Embraer’s Executive Jets Division. 

• Influence to be Obtained
• According to the Information filed by the DOJ, from approximately 2009 to 2011, Steven participated in a scheme to bribe a high-level Saudi Arabian government official (“Saudi Arabian Official”) to obtain a contract for the sale of $93 million worth of aircraft for Embraer to the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia. 
  
  In or about 2006, Stevens met with the Saudi Arabian Official, who indicated that he could give the contract for the aircraft to Embraer and improve the terms in exchange for payment.  Stevens allegedly arranged to pay the bribe to a South African company owned by some of his friends and with no experience in the aircraft industry.  The South African intermediary then passed most of the money on to the Saudi Arabian Official, as well as paying about $129,000 to Steven personally as a kickback.  

• Enforcement
• On December 21, 2017, the DOJ filed an Information against Steven, charging him with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provision, one count of violating the FCPA’s anti-bribery provision, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering; and one count of making false statements to the government pursuant to an investigation.  On the same date, Steven pled guilty to all of the counts in the Information.  On December 18, 2018, Steven was sentenced to time served and ordered to pay $25,000.
  
  In a related action, on October 24, 2016, the DOJ and SEC announced that they had resolved FCPA enforcement actions against Embraer in which it agreed to pay a criminal monetary penalty of $107,285,090 and a civil monetary penalty of $98,248,291.

• Amount of the Value
• Approximately $1.5 million.

• Amount of Business Related to Payment
• $93 million contract.

• Intermediary
• Third-party intermediary.

• Compliance Monitor
• No

• Reporting Requirements
• No

• Case is Pending?
• No

• Related Enforcement Actions
• United States v. Embraer, S.A. (S.D. Fla. 2016)
  SEC v. Embraer, S.A. (S.D. Fla. 2016)
  

Colin Steven 

• Citation
• United States v. Steven, No. 1:17-cr-00788 (S.D.N.Y. 2017).

• Date Filed
• 12/21/2017

• Filed Under Seal
• No

• FCPA Statutory Provision
• • Anti-Bribery
  • Conspiracy: Anti-Bribery

• Other Statutory Provision
• Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. Section 1343);Money Laundering (18 U.S.C. Section 1956(a)(2)(A)); False Statement to Government (18 U.S.C. Section 1001)). 

• Disposition
• Guilty Plea

• Defendant Jurisdictional Basis
• Agent of Issuer

• Defendant's Citizenship
• United Kingdom

• Individual Sanction
• $25,000; time served.