Barclays pays SEC $6.3 million to settle ‘referral hiring’ FCPA violations
Barclays PLC
paid the SEC $6.3 million Friday to settle FCPA offenses related to the hiring of relatives of public officials in Asia.
The British bank
disgorged $3.8 million and paid a $1.5 million penalty to the SEC, plus pre-judgment interest of $984,000.
In an internal administrative order (pdf),
the SEC
charged Barclays with violating the FCPA’s books and records and internal accounting controls provisions.
From at least 2009 until August 2013, businesses within Barclays Asia Pacific Region (APAC)
hired 117 job candidates referred by or connected to foreign government officials or non-government clients.
Some of the hires — relatives and friends of government officials and executives of Barclays’ non-government clients —
were extended as a personal benefit to those officials and executives with the expectation that the bank would gain investment banking business, the SEC said.
The FCPA Blog