Kellogg Brown & Root fined $400 million for Nigeria bribes

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US company Kellogg Brown & Root fined $400 million for Nigeria bribes – SEC Charges KBR and Halliburton for FCPA Violations. Press release 2009-23. Washington, D.C., Feb. 11, 2009.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced settlements with KBR, Inc. and Halliburton Co. to resolve SEC charges that KBR subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root LLC bribed Nigerian government officials over a 10-year period, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), in order to obtain construction contracts.

KBR and Halliburton have agreed to pay $177 million in disgorgement to settle the SEC’s charges. Kellogg Brown & Root LLC has agreed to pay a $402 million fine to settle parallel criminal charges brought today by the U.S. Department of Justice. The sanctions represent the largest combined settlement ever paid by U.S. companies since the FCPA’s inception.

“FCPA violations have been and will continue to be dealt with severely by the SEC and other law enforcement agencies,” said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. “Any company that seeks to put greed ahead of the law by making illegal payments to win business should beware that we are working vigorously across borders to detect and punish such illicit conduct.”

Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice said, “Today’s guilty plea by KBR ends one chapter in the Department’s long-running investigation of corruption in the award of $6 billion in construction contracts in Nigeria. This bribery scheme involved both senior foreign government officials and KBR corporate executives who took actions to insulate themselves from the reach of U.S. law enforcement.