Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) continues to be a high priority area for the SEC. In 2010, the SEC's Enforcement Division created a specialized unit to further enhance its enforcement of the FCPA, which prohibits companies issuing stock in the U.S. from bribing foreign officials for government contracts and other business.

The following is a list of the SEC's FCPA enforcement actions listed by calendar year:

2018

Stryker Corp. – The Michigan-based medical device company agreed to pay a $7.8 million penalty for insufficient internal accounting controls and inaccurate books and records. (9/28/18)

Patricio Contesse González – Agreed to pay $125,000 to resolve charges that he violated the FCPA while serving as CEO of Chilean-based chemical and mining company Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (9/25/18)

United Technologies – The Connecticut-based company agreed to pay nearly $14 million to settle charges that it made illicit payments to facilitate sales of elevators and aircraft engines. (9/12/18)

Joohyun Bahn – A New Jersey-based real estate broker agreed to settle charges that he attempted to bribe a foreign official while brokering the sale of a high-rise commercial building on behalf of a foreign private issuer. (9/6/18)

Sanofi – Agreed to pay more than $25 million to resolve charges related to corrupt payments to win business in Kazakhstan and the Middle East. (9/4/18)

Legg Mason – Agreed to pay more than $34 million to settle charges related to a scheme to bribe Libyan government officials. (8/27/18)

Credit Suisse Group AG – Agreed to pay more than $30 million to the SEC and a $47 million criminal penalty to resolve charges that the firm obtained investment banking business in the Asia-Pacific region by corruptly influencing foreign officials in violation of the FCPA. (7/5/18)

Panasonic Corp. – The Japan-based company agreed to pay more than $143 million to resolve FCPA charges involving a lucrative consulting position it offered to a government official at a state-owned airline to induce the official to help its U.S. subsidiary in obtaining and retaining business from the airline. (4/30/18)

The Dun & Bradstreet Corp. – The company agreed to pay more than $9 million in disgorgement, interest and a civil penalty to resolve FCPA violations stemming from improper payments made by two Chinese subsidiaries. (4/23/18)

Kinross Gold – The Canada-based gold mining company agreed to pay a $950,000 penalty to resolve FCPA violations arising from its repeated failure to implement adequate accounting controls of two subsidiaries in Africa. (3/26/18)

Elbit Imaging – The Israel-based company agreed to pay a $500,000 penalty to resolve FCPA violations stemming from payments to consultants for purported services related to a real estate development project in Romania. (3/9/18)

2017

Telia – The Sweden-based telecommunications provider agreed to pay $965 million in a global settlement to resolve violations of the FCPA to win business in Uzbekistan. (9/21/17)

Halliburton – The company agreed to pay $29.2 million and a former vice president agreed to pay a $75,000 penalty to settle charges related to payments made to a local company in Angola in the course of winning lucrative oilfield services contracts. (7/27/17)

Michael L. Cohen and Vanja Baros – The former Och-Ziff executives were charged with being the driving forces behind a far-reaching bribery scheme that paid tens of millions of dollars in bribes to high-level government officials in Africa. (1/26/17) NOTE: Och-Ziff and other executives settled charges in 2016.

Orthofix International – The Texas-based medical device company agreed to pay more than $6 million to settle charges that its subsidiary in Brazil used high discounts and improper payments to induce doctors under government employment to use Orthofix products. (1/18/17)

SQM - Chilean-based chemical and mining company Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. agreed to pay more than $30 million to resolve parallel civil and criminal cases finding that it violated the FCPA by making improper payments to Chilean political figures and others. (1/13/17)

Biomet - The Warsaw, Ind.-based medical device manufacturer agreed to pay more than $30 million to resolve SEC and Justice Department investigations into the company's anti-bribery violations in Brazil and Mexico. (1/12/17)

Cadbury Limited/Mondelez International