Paul Calli Quoted Regarding Credit Suisse Foreign Bribery Settlement
The Anti-Corruption Report quoted Calli Law Managing Partner Paul Calli in its recent analysis of Credit Suisse’s $547 million settlement arising from foreign bribery allegations. As Anti-Corruption Report summarizes:
In the FCPA world, it can take quite a while for the other shoe to fall. In late 2018, eight individuals, including three former bankers at Credit Suisse Group AG (Credit Suisse or CS), were indicted for their alleged involvement in a $2-billion fraud and kickback scheme involving the development of a tuna fishing fleet and other maritime projects in Mozambique. Almost three years later, the bank has now settled with the DOJ, SEC, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in a $547‑million coordinated global settlement that includes $200 million of loan forgiveness. The SEC settlement involved alleged violations of the books-and-records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA, while in the DOJ settlement the bank only pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Anti-Corruption quoted Mr. Calli’s discussion of why the DOJ and SEC may have chose not to charge Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, explaining:
DOJ has failed miserably in FCPA prosecutions where the accused put the government to its burden of proof,” Paul Calli of Calli Law told the Anti-Corruption Report. “DOJ took the easy route here and charged conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering – far simpler a task at trial than trying to prove an FCPA violation.
Calli Law Attorneys Paul Calli and Chas Short have previously analyzed the DOJ’s poor track record when it charges FCPA violations and the accused person fights at trial – that discussion is available in a guest post at the FCPA Professor blog.
As covered by the New York Times, Paul Calli successfully defended the first person acquitted in the government’s infamous and failed “Gabon Sting” prosecution.
