Ericsson has agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve a bribery case brought forward by US authorities, the Justice Department announced on Friday, December 6.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) charged the telecommunications giant with conspiracies to violate the anti-bribery and other provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
The DOJ said that Ericsson had acknowledged paying bribes, falsifying records and failing to implement reasonable accounting controls as part of a corruption campaign that lasted 17 years in at least five countries to solidify its grip on the telecommunications market.
The settlement will see Ericsson pay $520 million in criminal penalty charges and $540 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
An Ericsson subsidiary, Ericsson Egypt, pleaded guilty in a US court to a charge of conspiracy to violate anti-bribery laws.
US Attorney Geoffrey S Berman said: “Through slush funds, bribes, gifts, and graft, Ericsson conducted telecom business with the guiding principle that ‘money talks.
“Today’s (Friday December 6) guilty plea and surrender of over a billion dollars in combined penalties should communicate clearly to all corporate actors that doing business this way will not be tolerated.”
