Glencore Fined $700m for Bribing Nigerian Officials, Others

A United States judge yesterday ordered Glencore Plc to pay $700 million in connection with its guilty plea over a decade-long scheme to bribe foreign officials across several countries.

The sentence handed down by US District Judge, Lorna Schofield, in Manhattan federal court consisted of a $428.5 million fine and $272 million in forfeiture, in line with a plea deal reached last May between the mining and commodity trading giant and federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

According to Reuters, prosecutors said Glencore paid more than $100 million in bribes to officials in countries including Nigeria, Brazil, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to win business or avoid audits.

The fine was 15 per cent below what US sentencing guidelines recommended and reflected credit for Glencore’s cooperation, including by providing documents that were located abroad and investing “significant resources” in improving ethics and compliance, prosecutors said.

Overall, the Swiss-based multinational said it expects to pay more than $1.5 billion to settle bribery and market manipulation accusations, including more than $1 billion in the United States.

Last year, Glencore was ordered to pay $341 million in fines and $144 million in forfeiture after pleading guilty to a market manipulation charge in Connecticut federal court.

Glencore is a Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Its oil and gas head office is in London and its registered office is in Saint Helier, Jersey. The current company was created through a merger of Glencore with Xstrata on 2 May 2013.