WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) —The U.S. Department of Justice announced June 4 that Societe Generale S.A., a global financial services institution, will pay more than $860 million after allegations of attempting to bribe Libyan government officials over a multi-year period.
“For years, Société Générale undermined the integrity of global markets and foreign institutions by issuing false financial data and by fraudulently securing contracts through bribery,” John P. Cronan, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement. “Today’s resolution – which marks the first coordinated resolution with France in a foreign bribery case – sends a strong message that transnational corruption and manipulation of our markets will be met with a global and coordinated law enforcement response.”
The company will also pay $275 million for allegations of manipulating the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR). LIBOR is used throughout the world as a benchmark for interest rates. Additionally, Societe Generale will pay roughly $475 million in penalties and disgorgement.
“The resolution announced today by the Department with Societe Generale and a subsidiary, which includes a guilty plea, admissions of wrongdoing, significant corrective measures and hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties, sends a powerful message to financial institutions that engage in corruption and manipulation in the financial markets that they will be held accountable,” Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. attorney of the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.