Finocchi is an American citizen. Subscribe now. Last week, Sargeant Marine agreed to pay the DOJ $16.6 million to settle FCPA charges that it bribed officials in multiple South American countries. To demonstrate (once again) the idiotic nature of both Sargeant Marine officers and employees and bribe payors in general, to facilitate the scheme and to conceal the scheme its participants used the code word “Chocolates” to refer to the confidential information that was obtained through the corrupt bribery scheme. 25 September 2020. To facilitate the bribe payments and to conceal the bribe payments, Sargeant Marine and its co-conspirators entered into fake consulting contracts with corrupt Venezuelan Consultants. For instance, in describing its decision not to appoint a monitor in the Sargeant Marine case, the DOJ referenced the company’s “risk profile, including the small size of the Company’s ongoing operations.” Why Disclose? Print article Brooklyn federal courthouse (Credit: Beyond My Ken on Wikimedia Commons) Florida-based asphalt company Sargeant Marine’s plea agreement over FCPA violations explained why the company secured a significantly reduced criminal penalty and avoided a monitor. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Recently we saw one of the most blatant cases of bribery and corruption brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the form of a guilty plea by Sargeant Marine Inc. (Sargeant Marine), an asphalt company, related to conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and agreed to pay a criminal fine of $16.6 million to resolve charges stemming from a scheme to pay bribes to foreign officials in three South American countries. The case is also noteworthy in that six individuals formerly employed by or associated with Sargeant Marine have previously pled guilty to FCPA violations. We offer: Business Services Accounting & … Sargeant Marine went into “consulting” agreements with the middlemen. According to the documents in this case, between approximately 2010 and 2018, Sargeant Marine conspired to pay bribes to foreign officials in Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador to secure lucrative contracts. Stay informed. Factors included the sale of the corrupt joint venture (JV) which received most of the ill-gotten gains and the lack of financing available to Sargeant Marine. The bribes it paid in Brazil alone helped the company and its trading affiliate win Petrobras contracts … Army Staff Sgt. It has not yet been disclosed how Sargeant Marine came to the attention of the DOJ. For Sargeant Marine, given the scope and nature of their multi-year bribery and corruption schemes, it was clearly a smart business move to make. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. As calculated in the Plea Agreement, Sargeant Marine received a benefit from its bribery and corruption program of over $38 million in pecuniary gain. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Earlier this week, the DOJ announced that Sargeant Marine Inc. (SMI – an asphalt company based in Florida) “pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $16.6 million to resolve foreign bribery charges stemming from conduct by the company and its employees and agents in Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador.” Asphalt company Sargeant Marine has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and agreed to a $16.6 million criminal fine to resolve charges that it paid bribes to foreign officials in three South American countries, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Documents. That would have brought the fine down to $90 million. Sargeant Marine On September 22, 2020, Sargeant Marine Inc. (“SMI”), a Florida-based company that provides asphalt products, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions and agreed to pay a criminal fine of $16.6 million to resolve charges stemming from bribery schemes in Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador. When it came to the remediation, the company’s response was equally robust. Sargeant Marine and its affiliates used the same tactics as in Brazil and Venezuela to conceal bribe payments, made through an intermediary to a Petroecuador official, which were made to secure a contract with Petroecuador. Prior to 2012, PDVSA refused to sell asphalt to Sargeant Marine or related companies. A Brazilian consultant believed that a competitor of Sargeant Marine was winning contracts from Petrobras because that competitor was favored by a particular Brazilian politician and was likely paying bribes to that politician. As a result of this scheme, Sargeant Marine earned profits of approximately $3.2 million. Tomorrow we will consider the Plea Agreement, fine and penalty and the future of Sargeant Marine. Some of our most-significant FCPA resolutions — such as Goldman Sachs, Herbalife, and Sargeant Marine — also included individual charges. On September 22, 2020, Sargeant Marine Inc. ("SMI"), an asphalt company incorporated and based in Boca Raton, Florida, pled guilty to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") in Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador. Subscribe now. Sargeant Marine Pleads Guilty to FCPA Charges and Agrees to Pay $16.6M “The Justice Department announced a guilty plea to FCPA charges by Sargeant Marine, Inc., a privately-owned company, based in Boca Raton, Florida. Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Sargeant Marine Inc., an asphalt company incorporated and formerly headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $16.6 million to resolve foreign bribery charges stemming from conduct by the company and its employees and agents in Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador. As previously noted, Sargeant Marine did receive a fine reduction of 25% under the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy for its extraordinary cooperation and extensive remediation. The case "involved separate schemes touching three different countries in Latin America across a span The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. It engaged in a multi-year deliberate campaign of bribery and corruption and now finds that it can no longer do business in the energy space because it was so corrupt. The bribery and corruption was widespread throughout the Latin American region. The reason? According to the Information, Sargeant Marine engaged in an eight-year scheme to bribe government officials in Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador as well as employees of the state-owned energy companies in those countries. This idea was codified in the latest version of the FCPA Resource Guide and Compliance Guidance, and we see it being put into practice. Subscribe now. Sargeant Marine’s guilty plea is another example of the FCPA’s effectiveness in prosecuting international bribery and fraud. FCPA Matter Information. It would appear that the message from the Benczkowski Memo has finally gotten out to companies, or at least the outside counsel who represents them. It is not clear if the company did so to curry favor, because the Sargeant Marine name was so besmirched in those countries that it had no hope of being commercially viable or in the case of Venezuela, there is not only no business to be had, there is no way of getting money out of the country. Type of FCPA Matter: DOJ Enforcement Action Industry Involved: Oil & Gas Matter Initiation Date: 09/22/2017 Key Statistics. The other unusual component of this FCPA enforcement action was the final penalty assessed against Sergeant Marine. The case was stunning in that apparently Sargeant Marine had incorporated the payment of bribes directly into its business strategy through the creation of multiple shell companies, use of corrupt third-parties and creation of related entities through which Sargeant Marine could launder its illegal bribe payments. 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