Two major Brazilian companies were hit with a record $3.5 billion in criminal fines Wednesday in what authorities say is the largest foreign bribery case in history.
The fines, announced by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, N.Y., resolve charges that were levied in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland against Odebrecht, a global construction company and Braskem, a Brazilian petrochemical firm.
“Odebrecht and Braskem used a hidden but fully functioning Odebrecht business unit – a ‘Department of Bribery,’ so to speak – that systematically paid hundreds of millions of dollars to corrupt government officials in countries on three continents,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sung-Hee Suh.
The companies are not charged with bribing any U.S. officials, but the since the scheme used U.S. bank accounts, they are being charged in federal court in the U.S. The U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn was also responsible for bringing bribery charges in 2015 against some of the top officials of FIFA, the governing body for international soccer.
Brazil is also well known for bribery allegations, including a scandal at the state-run oil company, Petrobras that helped to spark a deep recession in the country.
“When foreign officials receive bribes, they threaten our national security and the international free market system in which we trade,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney. “Just because they’re out of our sight, doesn’t mean they’re beyond our reach.”
U.S. and Swiss authorities will each get 10% of the fine money, while Brazil will receive the other 80%. Braskem will pay about $950 million. Odebrecht will pay at least $2.6 billion and as much as $4.5 billion, depending up what an independent analysis finds the company can afford.