Bilfinger Settlement Highlights the Long Tail and Loose Jurisdictional Requirements of Criminal FCPA Charges

Bilfinger SE has entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the DOJ to resolve charges that it and Houston-based Willbros Group paid more than $6 million in bribes to Nigerian officials to retain gas contracts related to the Eastern Gas Gathering System Project (EGGS).  Bilfinger agreed to pay a $32 million fine.  Willbros settled with the DOJ in 2008, paying $22 million to resolve charges related to EGGS (as well as charges relating to a bribery scheme in Ecuador).  One Willbros consultant was sentenced in May and several others pleaded guilty.  One former Willbros executive is currently a fugitive.  This article summarizes the case, extracting the compliance takeaways (including the attenuated U.S. nexus, the long tail of the investigation and the hybrid monitorship), and including a chart comparing the compliance requirements in the DPA to past corporate FCPA settlement agreements.  See “A Comparison and Examination of DOJ Compliance Program Requirements in FCPA Settlement Agreements” (Sep. 26, 2013).

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