SEC fines Halliburton $29M in Africa ‘bribe’
Oil services company Halliburton agreed on Thursday to pay a fine of $29.2 million to settle a probe into alleged violations of federal anti-bribery laws.
The settlement marked the second time in eight years Halliburton has paid up to close a federal probe into deals with corrupt African nations.
In both settlements, the company got off without admitting or denying wrongdoing.
In the most recent case, Halliburton paid millions of dollars to a state-run company in Angola in order to win a lucrative oil deal, the SEC alleged.
The fine represents less than a day’s revenue for Halliburton.
The settlement names a former company vice president, Jeannot Lorenz, for orchestrating the payments. While he, too, did not admit or deny any wrongdoing, Lorenz paid a separate $75,000 penalty, according to the SEC.
The deal stems from 2008, when Angola’s government pushed Halliburton to partner with local companies in order to win a contract with Sonangol, according to the SEC.
That kind of pay-to-play business dealing violates bribery statutes in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which establishes how US companies should operate abroad.
In 2009, Halliburton and its former engineering unit, KBR, paid a $177 million fine to close out a probe into alleged improper payouts to a Nigeria company.