Goodyear Settles SEC’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Bribery Charges For $16M
11th March 2015
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., one of the world’s largest tire companies headquartered in Akron, Ohio, has settled SEC charges that they violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to make tire sales in Kenya and Angola and have agreed to pay $16 million.
From 2007 to 2011, according to the SEC’s order instituting cease-and-desist proceedings, Goodyear subsidiaries paid more than $3.2 million in cash bribes to government officials, government-owned entities, employees of private companies, police, tax, and other local authorities regarding tire sales. These bribery payments were falsely recorded as legitimate business expenses in the subsidiaries’ books and records, which were consolidated into Goodyear’s books and records. Goodyear failed to implement adequate FCPA compliance controls at its subsidiaries in Kenya and Angola, which is why it did not prevent or detect these improper payments.