Albemarle Corporation, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was a global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of specialty chemicals. Albemarle’s common stock was registered with the SEC and traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
According to the documents in this case, Albemarle and its various subsidiaries used agents from 2009 through 2017 that paid bribes to obtain sales of refinery catalysts to public-sector oil refineries in Vietnam, India, and Indonesia and to private-sector oil refineries in India. Albemarle used these agents despite repeated and glaring bribery-related red flags. Additionally, Albemarle failed to keep adequate records and maintain sufficient internal accounting controls to provide reasonable assurances that payments made to agents in Vietnam, Indonesia, India, China, and the United Arab Emirates were for legitimate services.
In a settled administrative proceeding initiated on September 29, 2023, the SEC ordered Albemarle to cease and desist violations of the antibribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the FCPA. Under the terms of the settlement, Albemarle agreed to pay disgorgement of $81,856,863 plus prejudgment interest of $21,761,447. The SEC imposed no civil monetary penalty in light of the $99 million criminal fine Albemarle agreed to pay in its parallel resolution with the DOJ. The SEC further noted Albemarle's voluntary disclosure, cooperation, and remediation.
In a related proceeding initiated on September 28, 2023, the DOJ entered into a non-prosecution agreement with Albemarle. Under the terms of the settlement, Albemarle agreed to pay a criminal monetary penalty of $98,236,547 plus forfeiture of $98,511,669. However, the DOJ agreed to credit the $81,856,863 in disgorgement Albemarle paid to the SEC in its parallel enforcement action against the forfeiture, so the company would only pay $16,654,806 in forfeiture to the DOJ. The agency agreed to the non-prosecution agreement pursuant to its FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy because Albemarle voluntarily disclosed the misconduct, providing substantial cooperation to the department, and conducting extensive remediation. The DOJ did not give Albemarle full credit for its voluntary disclosure, however, because it determined that while the disclosure occurred prior to discovery of the misconduct by the department, it occurred many months after the company first learned about it and was thus not "reasonably prompt." Under the Corporate Enforcement Policy, however, Albemarle still qualified for a 45 percent reduction off the bottom of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range for its monetary penalty as well as an additional discount of $763,453 under the DOJ Pilot Program for bonuses withheld from employees who engaged in suspected wrongdoing.
