Trafigura to Pay $126 Million and Plead Guilty to Brazil Bribes
Trafigura Group will pay $126 million and plead guilty to US charges related to bribery in Brazil, in the latest case involving corruption by a commodity trading giant.
Trafigura is expected to enter the guilty plea in a federal court in Miami on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is not yet public. Spokespeople for Trafigura and the Department of Justice both declined to comment.
Trafigura’s is the latest in a string of cases in which the world’s biggest commodity trading houses have paid large fines to resolve charges of bribing government officials for oil contracts.
The series of investigations has laid bare a shocking culture of corruption across the modern industry, which for years sought to distance itself from a reputation for bribery and wrongdoing that stretches back to the days of Marc Rich.
Gunvor Group Ltd. this year agreed to pay more than $660 million to resolve bribery charges, while Vitol Group signed a deferred prosecution agreement in 2020, and paid $164 million after admitting that it had bribed officials in Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil.
Glencore Plc in 2022 paid more than $1 billion after pleading guilty to bribery and market-manipulation charges in the US, UK and Brazil.
Trafigura revealed the US probe in December, saying it would be resolved “shortly” and taking a $127 million provision. It is also facing a separate case in Switzerland, where the company and one of its longstanding top executives have been charged over allegations of bribing public officials in Angola.
SOURCE:bloomberg.com
