Corporate Crime Case Database
Consistent with the Department’s ongoing commitment to transparency in corporate crime cases, the DOJ launched a new case database. While it is still in the process of being populated, it will eventually contain the significant, relevant cases from each component and U.S. Attorney’s Office, resolved since the beginning of 2023.
United States v. Amadou Kane Diallo
A California businessman was charged for allegedly soliciting investments under false pretenses and using investors’ funds to support his own lavish lifestyle. He was charged with 19 counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering.
U.S. v. J & J Korea, Inc.
South Korean company J&J Korea, Inc. pleaded guilty and was sentenced for its role in a bid-rigging and fraud scheme involving repair and maintenance subcontract work at U.S military hospitals in South Korea. The subcontract work related to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) contract providing for operation and maintenance support services at U.S. military facilities around the world. The contract required the prime contractor to use a competitive bidding process when awarding subcontract work under the contract. However, the defendant and its co-conspirator, another South Korean company, agreed to submit rigged bids to ensure that the defendant won most of the subcontract work in South Korea under the USACE contract.
United States v. British American Tobacco P.L.C., et al
British American Tobacco (BAT) and its subsidiary, BAT Marketing Singapore (BATMS), one of the world’s largest manufacturers of tobacco products based in the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to criminal charges arising out of the companies’ scheme to do business in North Korea through a third-party company in Singapore, in violation of the bank fraud statute and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The companies agreed to pay combined penalties of more than $629 million to resolve bank fraud and sanctions violations charges with U.S. authorities.
BATMS pleaded guilty to a criminal information filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging BAT and BATMS with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to violate IEEPA. BAT entered into a deferred prosecution agreement related to the same charges.
Related Case:
Related Press Release:
United States v. IRB Brasil Resseguros SA
On April 24, 2023, the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section announced a corporate resolution with IRB, which will consist of an NPA with self-reporting and $45 million in victim compensation. The CFO of Brazilian reinsurance company IRB, together with other IRB employees, enacted a scheme to mislead investors about Berkshire Hathaway’s purported investments in IRB. When the scheme was revealed, IRB’s stock price dropped by approximately 30% and caused tens of millions in shareholder losses.
Monetary Amounts and Key Terms:
- Non-Prosecution Agreement – enhanced compliance self-reporting
- $0 – Fine
- No fine based upon inability to pay ($45,000,000 otherwise)
- $5,000,000 – Victim Compensation Payment
- On April 24, 2023, the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section announced a corporate resolution with IRB, which will consist of an NPA with self-reporting and $45 million in victim compensation. The CFO of Brazilian reinsurance company IRB, together with other IRB employees, enacted a scheme to mislead investors about Berkshire Hathaway’s purported investments in IRB. When the scheme was revealed, IRB’s stock price dropped by approximately 30% and caused tens of millions in shareholder losses.
- Monetary Amounts and Key Terms:
- Non-Prosecution Agreement – enhanced compliance self-reporting
- $0 – Fine
- No fine based upon inability to pay ($45,000,000 otherwise)
- $5,000,000 – Victim Compensation Payment
- Amount reduced based upon inability to pay ($45,000,000 otherwise)
- $0 – Fine
- Global Resolution?: No
- Total Global Monetary Amounts: $5,000,000 (DOJ MIMF)
- Total U.S. Monetary Amounts: $5,000,000
- U.S. Criminal Monetary Amounts: $5,000,000
- Non-Prosecution Agreement – enhanced compliance self-reporting
- Monetary Amounts and Key Terms:
- Amount reduced based upon inability to pay ($45,000,000 otherwise)
- On April 24, 2023, the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section announced a corporate resolution with IRB, which will consist of an NPA with self-reporting and $45 million in victim compensation. The CFO of Brazilian reinsurance company IRB, together with other IRB employees, enacted a scheme to mislead investors about Berkshire Hathaway’s purported investments in IRB. When the scheme was revealed, IRB’s stock price dropped by approximately 30% and caused tens of millions in shareholder losses.
- $0 – Fine
- Global Resolution?: No
- Total Global Monetary Amounts: $5,000,000 (DOJ MIMF)
- Total U.S. Monetary Amounts: $5,000,000
- U.S. Criminal Monetary Amounts: $5,000,000
United States v. Empire Navigation Inc. and Suez Rajan Limited
On April 19, 2023, Suez Rajan Limited, the bareboat charterer of the oil tanker Suez Rajan, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and economic sanctions against Iran, in connection with a scheme to covertly sell and transport for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) 980,000 barrels of Iranian crude oil to a customer abroad. On that same date, the company was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols for the District of Columbia to three years of corporate probation and a fine of almost $2.5 million.
In addition, pursuant to a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) and a seizure warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Empire Navigation Inc., the operating company of the vessel carrying the contraband cargo, agreed to be jointly liable for the fine imposed on Suez Rajan Limited, to cooperate with the government, and to transport the Iranian oil to the United States for seizure.
Related Case: United States v. All Petroleum-Product Cargo Aboard the Suez Rajan with International Maritime Number 9524475, 23-CV-00882-CJN (D.D.C.)
U.S. v. BNL Technical Services
Defendant, a Hanford Site subcontractor, falsely claimed more than $1.4 million in CARES Act funding and then distributed it to the owner. Defendant company and individual were indicted on 14 counts of fraud.
United States v. Rishi Shah et al.
Following an 11-week trial, the former CEO, President, and CFO/COO of Outcome Health, a Chicago-based advertising company, were convicted of mail, wire, and bank fraud in connection with a $1 billion corporate fraud scheme targeting the company's clients, lenders, and investors.
United States v. By Trade OU
On April 5, 2023, By Trade OU, an Estonia-based company, was sentenced, following its December 1, 2022 guilty plea, for its role in a conspiracy to violate U.S. export control laws and regulations and smuggle a jig grinder that was manufactured in Connecticut to Russia without an export license. A jig grinder is a high-precision grinding machine system that does not require a license to export to European Union countries but does require a license for export and reexport to Russia because of its potential application in nuclear proliferation and defense programs. By Trade OU admitted that it received funds from a Russian company, identified in the indictment as “Company B,” to purchase a jig grinder on the Russian company’s behalf from a Latvian company that had arranged to purchase the jig grinder from a manufacturer in Connecticut.
By Trade OU pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, and one count of international money laundering conspiracy and agreed to forfeit €312,192.44 (approximately $342,000). In a related civil forfeiture action, U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden also ordered the forfeiture of $484,696 that had been delivered to the Connecticut manufacturer as part of the attempted purchase of the jig grinder.
Press Release: Federal Court Orders Forfeiture of $826K in Funds Used in Attempt to Export Dual-Use High Precision Jig Grinder to Russia
United States v. Craig Perciavalle et al.
Craig Perciavalle, Joseph Runkel, and Wiliam Adams, all former executives and employees of Austal USA, a ship builder, were charged with conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with an accounting fraud scheme that falsely overstated the revenue that Austal was earning from ships it was buidling for the U.S. Navy.
United States v. Sim Hyon-Sop, et al
The Department of Justice brought charges a North Korean banker and Chinese facilitators for their roles in facilitating the illicit sale of tobacco products in North Korea. As alleged, the defendants engaged in a scheme to purchase leaf tobacco for North Korean state-owned cigarette manufacturers and used front companies and false documentation to cause U.S. financial institutions to process at least 310 transactions worth approximately $74 million that they otherwise would have frozen, blocked, investigated, or declined, had they known that the transactions were connected to trade in North Korea. The transactions generated an estimated revenue amount of up to $700 million for the North Korean manufacturers, one of which was owned by the North Korean military.
As alleged in the indictment, cigarette trafficking, including counterfeit cigarettes, generates significant revenue for advancing North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction programs, including its nuclear weapons.
Related Case:
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United States v. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
- In 2019, the defendant (Ericsson) entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) for using third-party agents and consultants to make bribe payments to government officials and to manage off-the-books slush funds in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Kuwait, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
- Following the 2019 resolution, Ericsson breached the DPA by failing to truthfully disclose all factual information and evidence related to the Djibouti scheme, the China scheme, and other potential violations of the FCPA’s anti-bribery or accounting provisions. Ericsson also failed to promptly report and disclose evidence and allegations of conduct related to its business activities in Iraq that may constitute a violation of the FCPA.
- In 2023, Ericsson agreed to plead guilty to the original charges deferred by the 2019 DPA: one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA and one count of conspiracy to violate the internal controls and books and records provisions of the FCPA. Ericsson was required to serve a term of probation through June 2024 and agreed to a one-year extension of the independent compliance monitor. The plea agreement also required Ericsson to pay an additional criminal penalty of $206,728,848 – which includes the elimination of any cooperation credit originally awarded pursuant to the DPA.
United States v. Sterling Bancorp, Inc.
On March 15, 2023, the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section signed and announced a guilty plea with Defendant Sterling Bancorp, Inc. for securities fraud. In connection with its October 2017 IPO, Sterling Bancorp, Inc.—a Detroit-based community bank with branches throughout the United States—issued a false and misleading public offering statement (SEC Form S-1) regarding its marquee lending program, the “Advantage Loan Program.” Although the bank touted this loan program, which in turn was a significant driver of the bank’s increased and sustained revenue, a major number of the loans issued through the ALP were the product of fraudulent documentation. Bank insiders (including its founder, Scott Seligman), made approximately $100 million in stock gains in connection with the IPO. The false statements were reiterated in the bank’s subsequent annual filings in 2018 and 2019 (SEC Form 10-K). In 2020, the fraud came to light through a bank examination, and the stock price dropped, causing shareholders approximately $69 million in losses.
Monetary Amounts and Key Terms:
- Guilty Plea – enhanced compliance self-reporting
- $0 – Fine
- No fine based upon inability to pay ($62,100,000 otherwise)
- $27,200,000 – Restitution
- Amount reduced based upon inability to pay ($56,600,000 otherwise)
- $0 – Fine
- Global Resolution?: No
- Total Global Monetary Amounts: $27,200,000 (DOJ MIMF)
- Total U.S. Monetary Amounts: $27,200,000
- U.S. Criminal Monetary Amounts: $27,200,000