A multinational bank agreed to pay over $1 billion to resolve charges related to alleged (i) bribery of Libyan officials and (ii) manipulation of certain benchmark interest rates. The agreements resolve charges filed by the DOJ, the CFTC and the French law enforcement agency Parquet National Financier ("PNF").
Regarding the Libyan bribery allegations, Société Générale reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ and agreed to a settlement with the PNF. According to the DOJ, Société Générale repeatedly committed Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") violations by paying bribes to Libyan entities in order to secure significant investments from Libyan state institutions.
With regard to the LIBOR allegations, the DOJ found that Société Générale made various "deflated" LIBOR submissions in order to create a false impression of creditworthiness. In a related action, the CFTC found that Société Générale repeatedly tried to manipulate LIBOR and Euribor in order to benefit various trading positions and "protect its reputation from speculation that it was having more trouble borrowing unsecured funds than other banks." Even after learning about a CFTC investigation into its submission practices, Société Générale allegedly continued to make misleading LIBOR submissions.
To resolve the FCPA charges, Société Générale will pay a combined $585 million to the DOJ and the PNF. To resolve the LIBOR manipulation charges, Société Générale will pay $275 million to the DOJ and $475 million to the CFTC.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.