Swiss trading giant pays over $135 million to resolve FCPA offenses
Vitol Inc., the U.S. affiliate of Geneva-based Vitol group,
entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice Thursday to settle two charges that
it conspired to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA by bribing officials in Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico.
As part of the three-year DPA, the DOJ
imposed a total criminal fine of $135 million but agreed to credit $45 million that Vitol will pay to the Brazilian Ministério Público Federal.
Between 2005 and 2014, Vitol and its co-conspirators
paid more than $8 million in bribes to at least four officials at Brazil’s state-owned and controlled oil company Petrobras.
Vitol paid the bribes in exchange for confidential Petrobras pricing and competitor information, the DOJ said.
Vitol admitted that from 2011 to 2014,
it bribed at least five other Petrobras officials in exchange for receiving confidential pricing information that was used to win fuel oil contracts with Petrobras.
A consultant acting on behalf of Vitol
used “back-channel negotiations” with a Houston-based Petrobras official, the DOJ said.
Vitol also admitted to a second conspiracy to bribe officials in Ecuador and Mexico between 2015 and 2020
to obtain and retain business in connection with the purchase and sale of oil products.
The company paid more than $2 million in bribes as part of the scheme, the DOJ said.
The FCPA Blog
https://fcpablog.com/2020/12/03/swiss-energy-trader-pays-over-135-million-to-resolve-fcpa-offenses/
Vitol Inc. Agrees to Pay over $135 Million to Resolve Foreign Bribery Case | OPA | Department of Justice
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/vitol-inc-agrees-pay-over-135-million-resolve-foreign-bribery-case