Deutsche Bank pays SEC $16 million to settle ‘referral hiring’ FCPA violations
Deutsche Bank
paid the SEC $16 million Thursday to settle FCPA offenses related to its hiring of relatives of public officials in China and Russia.
The German bank disgorged $10.7 million and paid a $3 million penalty to the SEC, plus pre-judgment interest of $2.4 million.
Deutsche Bank first disclosed the FCPA-related investigation in an SEC filing in March 2015.
In an internal administrative order (pdf),
the SEC
charged Deutsche Bank with violating the FCPA’s books and records and internal accounting controls provisions.
From at least 2006, Deutsche Bank’s APAC operations
engaged in a pattern and practice of providing employment to relatives at the request of State Owned Enterprises (SOE) executives that the bank was seeking business from, the SEC said.
According to the SEC, Deutsche Bank’s Chairman of APAC Corporate Finance
instructed that the daughter of an SOE’s chairman be hired despite headcount restrictions being in effect. The CEO of the the bank’s JV told Deutsche Bank that she was “an average-level candidate based on the interviews but failed two tests which means she is not good at analysis” and recommended she not be hired.
The FCPA Blog
Deutsche Bank reaches $16 million settlement over SEC lawsuit alleging it preferentially hired relatives of Russian and Chinese officials (DB) | Markets Insider