Oracle to pay $23 million to settle SEC charges related to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The tech company will pay a $15 million penalty plus roughly $8 million in disgorgement
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that Oracle will pay millions to settle charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
Oracle will pay the regulatory agency a $15 million penalty plus roughly $8 million in disgorgement. The tech company also "agreed to cease and desist from committing violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions" of the FCPA, the SEC said in a press release.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORCL | ORACLE CORP. | 184.84 | +2.14 | +1.17% |
The company did not admit to or deny the SEC's allegations as part of the agreement, according to the release.
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The regulatory agency alleged Oracle subsidiaries in Turkey, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) violated the FCPA by using slush funds between 2016 and 2019 to bribe foreign officials in exchange for business, according to a press release from the SEC.
Signage is displayed on a building at the Oracle Corp. headquarters campus in Redwood City, California, U.S., on Monday, March 14, 2016. (Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Turkey and UAE subsidiaries were also accused of paying for foreign officials to attend conferences, with some Turkey subsidiary employees allegedly using the slush funds to pay for officials' families to go with them or visit California on the side.
"The conduct outlined by the SEC is contrary to our core values and clear policies, and if we identify such behavior, we will take appropriate action," Michael Egbert, vice president of Oracle corporate communications, told FOX Business.
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Oracle previously paid $2 million in 2012 without admitting or denying wrongdoing to settle SEC charges that the tech company's Indian subsidiary allegedly "secretly" set aside "money off the company's books that was eventually used to make unauthorized payments to phony vendors in India," the SEC said in a press release.
Oracle is undergoing mass layoffs to their US customer experience division but the full scope of the eliminations is not clear at this time. (Getty Image / Getty Images)
The company, which moved its headquarters from California to Texas in late 2020, reported total revenues of $11.4 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, up from roughly $9.2 billion in the same period the prior fiscal year. Its net income narrowed from approximately $2.46 billion to $1.55 billion, Oracle also said.