Walmart to Pay $282 Million to Settle Claims of Corrupt Payments Abroad, SEC Says--2nd Update
June 20 2019 - 3:24PM
Dow Jones News
By Dave Michaels
Walmart Inc. agreed to pay about $282 million to settle both
criminal and civil claims related to payments made by outside
consultants in Brazil, China, India and Mexico, the Securities and
Exchange Commission said Thursday.
The SEC said Walmart violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,
or FCPA, which effectively forbids U.S.-listed companies from
paying bribes to win business abroad. The deal requires Walmart to
pay $144 million to the SEC and $138 million to the Justice
Department, the regulator said.
The resolution comes after settlement talks between Walmart and
the U.S. government have dragged on for years.
Karen Hewitt, an attorney for Walmart at Jones Day, declined to
comment.
The Justice Department launched its investigation as a series of
New York Times articles described alleged bribes Walmart paid in
Mexico to obtain permits to build stores there. That spurred a
wide-reaching investigation of Walmart's business across the globe,
including in Brazil, China and India.
The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. authorities sought a
fine of $300 million to settle the probe, far less than the $1
billion sought by government enforcers toward the end of the Obama
administration.
Walmart has spent about $900 million since 2012 on its own
internal investigation of the bribery allegations and upgraded
compliance operations, according to financial filings. In 2017,
Walmart said it would set aside $283 million in anticipation of
settling the U.S. government investigations.
"Walmart valued international growth and cost-cutting over
compliance," said Charles Cain, chief of the SEC unit that
investigates FCPA claims. "The company could have avoided many of
these problems, but instead Walmart repeatedly failed to take red
flags seriously."
Write to Dave Michaels at dave.michaels@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 20, 2019 15:09 ET (19:09 GMT)
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