Following recent trends, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought an administrative proceeding against a U.S. issuer for the alleged corrupt activities of its foreign subsidiaries. Earlier this week, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company agreed to pay the SEC over $16 million to settle charges alleging that it violated the accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by failing to prevent or detect over $3 million in bribes paid by its Angolan and Kenyan subsidiaries. Goodyear also must report its compliance remediation efforts to the SEC annually for the next three years.

The SEC’s Charges

According to the SEC’s cease and desist order, between 2007 and 2011, Goodyear’s downstream subsidiaries in Kenya and Angola bribed employees of both private and government-owned companies to obtain business. The subsidiaries also bribed police, tax authorities and other local officials, though the SEC’s order did not allege the purposes of those payments. The bribes “were falsely recorded as legitimate business expenses in the books and records of the subsidiaries, which were consolidated into Goodyear’s books and records.”