Amec Foster Wheeler Energy Limited has agreed to pay $18,375,000 to resolve criminal charges stemming from a scheme to pay bribes to officials in Brazil in exchange for an approximately $190 million contract to design a gas-to-chemicals complex.
According to court documents, Amec Foster Wheeler entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the U.S. Justice Department, Criminal Division, Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in connection with the filing of an information charging the Company with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
According to the Company’s admissions in the DPA, between 2011 and 2014, Amec Foster Wheeler conspired with others, including an Italian sales agent affiliated with a Monaco-based intermediary company, to pay bribes to decision-makers at Petrobras in order to win an approximately $190 million contract from Petrobras to design a gas-to-chemicals complex in Brazil called Complexo Gás-QuÃmico UFN-IV.
The Company, through certain of its employees and agents, took acts in furtherance of the scheme while located in New York and Texas, and earned at least $12.9 million in profits from the corruptly obtained business.
As part of the DPA, for a three-year period, Amec Foster Wheeler agreed to continue to cooperate with the U.S. government in any ongoing or future criminal investigations concerning Amec Foster Wheeler or its executives, employees or agents. In addition, under the agreement, Amec Foster Wheeler and its parent company, Wood, agreed to enhance their compliance programs and to report to the government on the implementation of their enhanced compliance programs.
The government reached this resolution with Amec Foster Wheeler based on a number of factors, including the Company’s failure to voluntarily and timely disclose the conduct that triggered the investigation; the nature and seriousness of the offense, which spanned multiple years and involved a high-level executive; and credit for the Company’s cooperation.
The Company also engaged in remedial measures, including terminating an individual involved in the misconduct, and adopting heightened controls and anti-corruption procedures. Accordingly, the criminal penalty reflects a 25% reduction off the applicable U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine for the Company’s full cooperation and remediation.
Under the DPA, the Fraud Section and the Eastern District of New York will credit up to 25% ($4,593,750) of the criminal penalty owed to the United States to payments the Company makes pursuant to the resolution with the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office, and up to 33% ($6,125,000) of the criminal penalty owed to the United States to payments the Company makes pursuant to the resolution with Brazilian authorities.
In a related civil matter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a subsidiary of Wood has agreed to pay the SEC disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling approximately $22.7 million for the conduct in Brazil. ■