WASHINGTON, Dec 7: A subsidiary of the Stockholm-based Ericsson telecommunications company has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to the US government to resolve a corrupt practices investigation, the Department of Justice said in a news release.
“Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, a multinational telecommunications company? in Stockholm, Sweden, has agreed to pay total penalties of more than $1 billion to resolve the government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA),” the release said on Friday.
The penalties were imposed because of the company’s plan to make and improperly record tens of millions of dollars in improper payments around the world, the Justice Department explained.
“Ericsson’s corrupt conduct involved high-level executives and spanned 17 years and at least five countries, all in a misguided effort to increase profits,” Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in the release.
The payments included a criminal penalty of over $520 million and approximately $540 million to be paid to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a related matter. An Ericsson subsidiary pleaded guilty on Friday for its role in the scheme, the release said.
(agencies)
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