Siemens S.A. (Argentina) ("Siemens Argentina"), headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was a controlled subsidiary of Siemens Aktiengesellschaft ("Siemens"), a corporation organized under the laws of Germany with its principal offices in Berlin and Munich, Germany. Through its operating groups, subsidiaries, officers, directors, employees, and agents, Siemens was engaged in a variety of business activities for, among others, national, state, and municipal governments. This included, among other things, developing, constructing, selling, and servicing telecommunications equipment and systems; power generation, transmission, and distribution equipment and systems; transportation equipment and systems; medical equipment and systems; and industrial and traffic equipment and systems. Siemens Argentina was a regional company that contracted for and managed projects relating to all Siemens operating groups.
Defendants:
Uriel Sharef was employed by Siemens from about 1978 to about December 2007. From about October 2000 until his departure from Siemens, Sharef was a member of Siemens's Managing Board and Corporate Executive Committee.
Herbert Steffen was employed by Siemens from about 1960 to about 2003. From about 1996 until his departure from the company, Steffen was group president of Siemens's transportation systems operating group.
Andres Truppel was employed by Siemens from about 1977 to about 2002, and thereafter was a consultant to Siemens until about 2004. From about 1996 until his shift to consultant status, Truppel was Chief Financial Officer of Siemens Argentina.
Ulrich Bock was employed by Siemens from about 1965 to 2001, and was a paid consultant to Siemens thereafter until about May 2007. From about 1997 to 2001, Bock was commercial head of Siemens Business Services GmbH & Co. OGH's ("SBS") Major Projects subdivision.
Eberhard Reichert was employed by Siemens from about 1964 to about 2001. From the late 1990s to about 2001, Reichert was technical head of SBS's Major Projects subdivision.
Stephan Signer was employed by Siemens from about 1979 to about 2011, with relatively brief hiatuses. From about 2000 to about 2007, Signer worked for SBS as a commercial director in various capacities.
Carlos Sergi was a prominent businessman in Latin America with extensive high-level government contacts in Argentina. He was, for a period of 15 years ending in 2003, a member of the Supervisory Board of Siemens Argentina, overlapping with Uriel Sharef.
Miguel Czysch was a business associate of Carlos Sergi.
In about 1994, the Argentine government issued a tender for bids to replace the then existing manually-created national identity booklets with state-of-the-art national identity cards. The total estimated value of the national identity card project was approximately $1 billion. On about February 10, 1998, Siemens Argentina and its affiliates were awarded the national identity card project contract by the Argentine Ministry of the Interior.
According to the allegations made in the indictment, from in or about 1996 up to and including on or about August 12, 2009, Sharef, Steffen, Truppel, Bock, Reichert, Signer, Sergi, and Czysch engaged in a conspiracy on behalf of Siemens to obtain the lucrative proceeds of the identity card project, and to foster future business, by means of bribery, fraud, and other forms of corruption. Members of the conspiracy won the project for Siemens by bribing Argentine government officials. They paid more bribes in the hope of reviving the project when the project became stalled in 2001. Ultimately, the project was terminated altogether. Even after that point, members of the conspiracy continued to pursue the profits that Siemens had expected to gain from the project. They did so through additional bribes and corrupt conduct, including the pursuit of a fraudulent arbitration in Washington, D.C. against the Argentine government, demanding nearly $500 million while actively hiding the corruption from the tribunal. The tribunal sided with Siemens, and on February 6, 2007, it awarded Siemens $217,838,439 in loss of investment, plus interest of 2.66% compounded annually. However, in August, 2009, Siemens personnel who were not members of the conspiracy caused the company to waive its right to the award.
On December 12, 2011, a grand jury issued a three count Indictment in the Southern District of New York against the defendants alleging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery, books & records, and internal controls provisions of the FCPA, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and wire fraud.
On September 30, 2015, Truppel pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s anti-bribery, internal controls, and books and records provisions, and to commit wire fraud. He is the first individual defendant to plead guilty in the massive Siemens bribery scheme. Truppel faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and three years of supervised release. Truppel was scheduled to be sentenced on April 14, 2017, but due to medical issues, the sentencing was postponed. On March 13, 2020, the court sentenced Truppel to time served in prison and ordered him to pay a mandatory assessment of $100.
On December 22, 2017, Reichert was arraigned. On March 15, 2018, Rechert entered into a plea agreement with the DOJ. On April 28, 2020, the court sentenced Reichert to time served in prison and ordered him to pay a mandatory assessment of $100.
As of the date of Reichert's sentencing, all of the other defendants remained at large. Because they are foreign nationals who live abroad, they may require extradition prior to prosecution in the United States. This case is ongoing.
Seven of the eight defendants in the U.S. criminal case were also charged by the SEC with civil FCPA offenses. Two - Regendantz and Sharef - have settled the SEC charges and a third - Steffen - won dismissal in federal court. The court entered default judgments against two other former Siemens Argentina executives in the SEC action - Signer and Bock.
