Global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca quietly settled FCPA-related books-and-records allegations with the SEC recently. According to the Commission’s bare-bones cease-and-desist order, the company failed to devise and maintain internal controls relating to interactions with health care practitioners in China and Russia. While details were sparse, familiar schemes such as fapiao fraud and sham speaker contracts played a role in China. To settle the charges, the company agreed to pay disgorgement of more than $4 million as well as a $375,000 penalty. See “Travel Agency Abuse, Falsified Expense Reports and Other Hospitality Blunders Lead to $25 Million Novartis Settlement” (Apr. 6, 2016).
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