Ericsson AB will plead guilty and pay more than $206 million over violations of a 2019 agreement it struck with US authorities regarding corrupt payments spanning 17 years, according to the Justice Department.
(Bloomberg) — Ericsson AB will plead guilty and pay more than $206 million over violations of a 2019 agreement it struck with US authorities regarding corrupt payments spanning 17 years, according to the Justice Department.
The Swedish 5G equipment maker agreed in 2019 to pay more than $1 billion to resolve investigations of bribes it paid in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kuwait between 2000 and 2016, according to a US statement. The US agreed to drop charges involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in exchange for promised reforms by the company. The Justice Department rarely finds companies breach such deferred-prosecution agreements, or DPAs.
Ericsson had engaged in “significant” violations of the FCPA and promised to “clean up its act,” Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Thursday in a statement. However, it breached those obligations, indicating “Ericsson did not learn its lesson,” Williams said. “It is now facing a steep price for its continued missteps.”
Read More: Former Ericsson Employee Charged in Foreign Bribery Scheme
Börje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson, said “the matter of the breaches is now resolved,” according to a statement.
“This resolution is a stark reminder of the historical misconduct that led to the DPA,” Ekholm said. “We have learned from that and we are on an important journey to transform our culture. To be a true industry leader, we must be a market and technology leader while also being a leader in how we conduct our business.”
In a court filing on Thursday, prosecutors asked US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain to schedule a guilty plea in Manhattan federal court.
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