Proactive Investors - Ericsson (BS:ERICAs), the Swedish telecom equipment producer, has agreed to plead guilty to US foreign corruption violations and pay more than $206 million over charges of bribery and falsifying records in several countries.
The company allegedly violated a 2019 agreement with the Justice Department by not providing documents and information to the agency, which it needed for an investigation.
Specifically, prosecutors say Ericsson used intermediaries to bribe government officials and manage illicit stashes of cash in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kuwait, prosecutors say.
That stemmed from a criminal indictment over violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which saw Ericsson pay a $520 million penalty in 2019 and agree to be monitored by an independent compliance agent for three years.
Ericsson has since dug its hole even deeper, the Justice Department says, by failing to disclose information and evidence in the Djibouti and China cases, among others. The company also did not turn over details in a 2019 Iraq internal investigation that has raised allegations of illegal business behavior, the department said.
Now, in addition to the $206 million fine, Ericsson is stuck with the monitor for another year, according to reports.