Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. was a Colombian financial holding company based in Bogota that was one of the largest commercial banking groups in Colombia. Grupo Aval’s shares were registered with the SEC and traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Corporacion Financiera Colombiana S.A. (“Corficolombiana”) was Grupo Aval’s merchant bank subsidiary and the largest finance corporation in Colombia. Grupo Aval consolidated Corficolombiana’s results of operations into its financial statements.
According to the documents in this case, Corficolombiana entered into a joint venture with Brazilian construction company Odebrecht S.A. to win a contract from the Colombian government for a 328-mile highway infrastructure project in Colombia. The SEC alleges that Corficolombiana, through its former president and with the joint venture partner, bribed government officials in Colombia to win an extension to the contract. In all, Corficolombiana paid approximately $28 million in bribes to Colombian officials, and Grupo Aval profited by approximately $32 million.
In a settled administrative proceeding announced on August 10, 2023, the SEC ordered Grupo Aval and Corficolombiana to cease and desist violations of the antibribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the FCPA. Under the terms of the settlement, Grupo Aval agreed to pay disgorgement of $32,139,731 and prejudgment interest of $8,129,558. The SEC noted Grupo Aval's cooperation and remedial measures and did not impose a civil monetary penalty in light of the criminal fine levied by the DOJ in its parallel enforcement action.
In a related proceeding, on August 1, 2023, the DOJ filed a single count information in the District of Maryland against Corficolombiana alleging a conspiracy to violate the antibribery provisions of the FCPA. On August 10, 2023, the company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with a term of three years with the DOJ. Under the terms of the settlement, Corficolombiana agreed to pay a criminal fine of $40,600,000, to forfeit $28,630,000 in ill-gotten gains, and to report on the status of the company's enhanced anticorruption compliance for three years. The DOJ agreed to credit the full forfeiture amount against the disgorgement the company paid to the SEC in that agency's parallel proceeding and to credit up to $20,300,000 against the criminal penalty for a fine paid in a Colombian proceeding predicated on the same underlying conduct. The DOJ noted the company's cooperation and remediation but did not give the company credit for volutarily disclosing the misconduct.
