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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. In September 2017, Andrade pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the FCPA. 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. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The case "involved separate schemes touching three different countries in Latin America across a span Both the Petrobras Official and Brazilian Politician agreed to the scheme and the Petrobras Official directed his subordinates in the asphalt department to give business to Sargeant Marine. I do not personally know the Sargeant Marine counsel but one can only assume they were able to persuade the DOJ that the company was earnest in its assertions of creating a culture of compliance at the company. 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. In Brazil, the bribery scheme involved corrupt payments to a government Minister, a high-ranking member of the Brazilian Congress, and senior executives at Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) to obtain valuable contracts to sell asphalt. Make the right decisions. From the Plea Agreement, the company conducted a thorough investigation, made witnesses available to the DOJ, proactively identified facts and issues to the DOJ which were uncovered in the investigation. 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. The group's leader, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, then allegedly threw a grenade at the man while an order was given for him to be shot. The two other guilty pleas involved another former Sargeant Marine agent and a former PDVSA official who took bribes. Army Staff Sgt. When you can engage in a remediation measure which is also a smart business move, it is one which perhaps more companies should consider. 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. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. None have been sentenced nor is there any information as to their individual facts they have pled to. Yet the Sargeant Marine FCPA enforcement action has several instructive points which are largely laid out in the Plea Agreement. 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. While none of the bribes were paid to U.S. officials or paid in the U.S., the FCPA allows the U.S. government to prosecute Sargeant Marine because it is … Subscribe now. Compliance at the Tipping Point, Part III – The VW Emissions-Testing Scandal, Nursery Rhymes, a Chinese Proverb, the HP FCPA Enforcement and the Myth of the Rogue Employee, Robert Kennedy, the Travel Act and the FCPA. It engaged in “extensive remedial measures”; provided compliance training, made enhancements to “internal controls and compliance program, including a new anti-corruption policy, a new employee manual and new third-party due diligence and onboarding procedures.”. The clear message for any Board of Directors is that if you want the best deal you can get, self-disclose, cooperate in the investigation, remediate fully and give up all the evidence needed to convict the guilty parties. Stay informed. This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. Sargeant Marine Pleads Guilty to FCPA Charges and Agrees to Pay $16.6M October 1, 2020 Construction, Criminal Law, Litigation-Business “The Justice Department announced a guilty plea to FCPA charges by Sargeant Marine, Inc., a privately-owned company, based in Boca Raton, Florida. 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. … The company provided to the DOJ “all relevant facts known to it, including information about individuals involved in the misconduct” which assisted the DOJ in obtaining the six guilty pleas. The bribes it paid in Brazil alone helped the company and its trading affiliate win Petrobras contracts … 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. 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. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. A similar bribery scheme was used in Ecuador where bribes were paid to “secure an improper advantage in order to obtain and retain business with Petroecuador and win lucrative contracts with Petroecuador.” Sargeant Marine created fake consulting agreements, fake invoices and made payments from the US to offshore bank accounts controlled by corrupt third-parties in Ecuador. It only compounds his despair over what seemed to him an unnecessary war and brings up haunting memories, like the time he shot and killed an armed woman and child after an ambush. 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. At the dinner, Brazilian consultant told the Petrobras Official and Brazilian Politician that if they assisted Sargeant Marine with winning business from Petrobras, they would be paid bribes on the resulting contracts. 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