Defending SEC and DOJ FCPA Investigations and Conducting Related Corporate Internal Investigations: The Triton Energy/Indonesia SEC Consent Decree Settlements
Mr. Mathews was a senior partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Washington, D.C.,
and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law Center.
Sadly, Mr. Mathews passed away on May
Consent Decree Settlements Defending SEC and DOJ FCPA Investigations and Conducting Related Corporate Internal Investigations: The Triton Energ y/Indonesia SEC
Arthur F. Mathews 0 1 2
Commons 0 1 2
the Securities Law Commons 0 1 2
0 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business by an authorized administrator of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons
1 Arthur F. Mathews, Defending SEC and DOJ FCPA Investigations and Conducting Related Corporate Internal Investigations: The Triton Energy/Indonesia SEC Consent Decree Settlements , 18 Nw. J. Int'l L. & Bus. 303, 1997-1998
2 Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons , International Law
Recommended Citation
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18:303 (1998)
B. Use of Jurisdictional Facilities "In Furtherance of".........3.2.3......
C. Corruptly.......................................3.2.5......................
D. Payment ofAnything of Value .....................3.2.7....................
E. Authorization of Payment to a Third Party Agent or
Consultant While Knowing that All or a Portion Will
be Offered or Given to a Foreign Government Official ......32.8.....
1. Knowing Authorization of Corrupt Payments by Agents ..328
2. Foreign Government Official ...................3.3.0....................
F. For the Purpose of Influencing Any Official Act or Decision.. 333
G. Obtaining or Retaining Business ....................3.3.3....................
VIII. OTHER DEFENSE CONSIDERATIONS .......................33.8......................
A. "Due Diligence": Not a Defense, But a Strong Mitigation
Element ....................................3.3.8....................
B. The "Act of State Doctrine".......................3.4.1....................
C. National Security Exemption ......................3.4.6....................
D. The Possibility of "Cultural Defenses" When A Foreign
Agent or Consultant Is Involved in an FCPA Case.........34.7.........
IX. FCPA BOOKS AND RECORDS AND INTERNAL ACCOUNTING
CONTROLS PROVISIONS ...............................3.4.9......................
A. New Section 10A ofthe 1934 Act and SEC Rule 10A-1 ....3.5.5...
X. THE TRITON ENERGY/INDONESIA CASE ....................3.57.....................
A. The "Questionable" Payments .....................3.6.0....................
1. May 1989 TaxAudit .........................3.60....................
2. March 1988 Annual Fiscal 1988 Audit .............3.6.1...............
3. March 1989 Annual Fiscal 1989 Audit .............3.6.2...............
4. 1989 Corporate Tax Refund ....................3.6.2....................
5. Refund ofValue Added Tax....................3.6.3....................
6. Pipeline Tariff Payment.......................3.6.4....................
7. "Grease," "Facilitating," Or "Expediting" Payments ....3.6.5...
B. SEC Civil Injunctive and Civil Penalty Enforcement Action... 365
C. Companion SEC Administrative Cease-And-Desist
Proceedings ..................................36.7....................
XI. WHAT DEFENSES MAY HAVE BEEN EXPLORED IF TRITON
ENERGY HAD LITIGATED THE SEC CIVIL ENFORCEMENT ACTION?
OR WHAT DEFENSES MIGHT BE WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION
IF A COMPARABLE FCPA CORRUPT FOREIGN PAYMENTS CASE
WERE FULLY LITIGATED? ..............................3.72......................
A. Statute of Limitations/Laches ......................3.7.4....................
B . Lack ofEquity ................................3.7.6....................
C. Lack ofUse ofUnited States "Jurisdictional Means"
"inFurtherance of' the Allegedly Improper Payments ......3.7.8.....
D. Lack of "Corrupt" Intent.........................3.7.9....................
E. Lawful Grease or Facilitating Payments ...............3.8.1..................
F. Not for the Purpose of "Obtaining or Retaining Business". ...3.83.
XII. REQUIRED PUBLIC DISCLOSURE .........................3.8.7......................
A. "Materiality" Under the Federal Securities Laws .........3.8.7..........
I. INTRODUCTION
After a prolonged lull in the Reagan and Bush Administrations, the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) and the
Department of Justice (DOJ) renewed prosecutorial interest in civil and criminal
enforcement of the foreign bribery/corrupt foreign payments provisions of
the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).1 In the February 1997 case SEC
v. Triton Energy Corp.,2 the SEC brought its first FCPA corrupt foreign
payments civil enforcement action in over a decade.3 SEC v. Triton Energy
'Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-213, 91 Stat. 1494, as amended
by Title V of the Omnibus Trade & Competitiveness Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100-418, §§
5001-03, 102 Stat. 1415, 1415-25 (codif (...truncated)