Archer Daniels Midland Subsidiary, FCPA Violation, Illinois 2013

Archer Daniels Midland Subsidiary Guilty of Violating FCPA, Pays $17 Million in Criminal Fines

In a major blow to corporate corruption, Archer Daniels Midland Company subsidiary Alfred C. Toepfer International Ukraine Ltd. has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company has agreed to pay $17 million in criminal fines to resolve charges that it paid bribes through vendors to Ukrainian government officials to obtain value-added tax refunds.

According to a statement from the Central District of Illinois’ U.S. Attorney’s Office, the company’s guilty plea and subsequent fine are a result of the Office’s efforts to hold individuals and corporations accountable for their actions.

‘We hold people accountable when the law says that they should be accountable,’ said U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis. ‘We collect restitution for victims of crime, we collect damages if there has been fraud in government programs, we collect debts owed to the government, and we protect federal funds and the public treasury. We do our very best to make sure that justice is done.’

The case is a significant example of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s efforts to combat corruption and protect taxpayer resources. The Office’s work in this case has resulted in a substantial return for taxpayers, with the $17 million fine being a major contributor to the Central District of Illinois’ $30 million in collections for fiscal year 2014.

Attorney General Eric Holder praised the Office’s efforts, saying ‘Every day, the Justice Department’s federal prosecutors and trial attorneys work hard to protect our citizens, to safeguard precious taxpayer resources, and to provide a valuable return on investment to the American people.’

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has also been working to collect civil debts on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education.

The largest civil collections were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws.

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