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Enforcement Action Dataset

 

Initiation Date:    11/21/2017  Information

Prosecuting Agency:    U.S. Department of Justice

Type of Action:    DOJ Criminal Proceeding

Docket or Case Number:    17-cr-686

Court:    S.D. Texas

Name of Prosecuting Attorneys:   

  • Sandra L. Moser, Acting Chief, Fraud Section, Criminal Division
  • Dennis R. Kihm, Trial Attorney, Fraud Section, Criminal Division
  • Abe Martinez, Acting U.S. Attorney
  • Suzanne Elmilady, Assistant United States Attorney

US Assisting Agencies:   

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • Internal Revenue Service
  • U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Foreign Enforcement Action/Investigation:    Unknown

Foreign Assistance:   

  • Dutch Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministrie) (NL)
  • Brazilian Federal Prosecution Office (Ministerio Publico Federal) (BR)
  • Swiss Federal Office of Justice (CH)
  • Swiss Office of the Attorney General (CH)

Origin of the Proceeding:    Voluntary disclosure

Whistleblower:    Unknown

Case Status:    Resolved


Summary  Information

SBM Offshore N.V. (SBM) was a Dutch publicly traded corporation that had major business operations in the design, construction, and provision of offshore oil and gas drilling equipment.

SBM Offshore USA Inc. (SBM USA) was a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of SBM based in Texas.

According to the Information, between 1996 and 2012, SBM paid more than $180 million in commissions to intermediaries, knowing that some portion of those commissions would be used to bribe officials in Angola, Brazil, Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, and Kazakhstan, primarily to the state-owned oil companies in these respective countries. The bribes helped SBM obtain business worth at least $2.8 billion from those state-owned oil companies.

On November 21, 2017, the DOJ filed a single count information in the Southern District of Texas against SBM alleging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. On November 29, 2017, the company entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the DOJ and agreed to pay total criminal sanctions of $238 million. These total sanctions included a $500,000 criminal fine and $13.2 million of forfeiture levied against SBM USA, which entered into a plea agreement in a separate proceeding. In determining the appropriate fine, the DOJ took into account the $240 million in disgorgement and fines that SBM paid when it settled related claims with the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2014 as well as expected future fines from Brazilian authorities. In all, SBM’s combined worldwide penalties exceed $475 million. The DOJ further noted that while SBM waited a year before disclosing the misconduct to the agency, the company fully cooperated and remediated and was therefore entitled to a 25% reduction off the bottom of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range. The fine was further reduced based on SBM's inability to pay the full guidelines amount.

In separate proceedings, the DOJ filed similar conspiracy charges against Anthony Mace, the former CEO of SBM, and Robert Zubiate, a sales and marketing executive at SBM USA. Both men pled guilty, and on September 28, 2018, both were sentenced to a term of prison plus a criminal fine.

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