Scientific instruments manufacturer Bruker will pay a $2.4 million penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by providing non-business related travel and improper payments to various Chinese government officials in an effort to win business.
An SEC investigation found that Bruker violated the internal controls and books and records provisions of the Securities Exchange Act, because it lacked sufficient internal controls to prevent and detect approximately $230,000 in improper payments out of its China-based offices that falsely recorded them in books and records as legitimate business and marketing expenses. As a result, Bruker was able to gain a profit of approximately $1.7 million from sales contracts with state-owned entities in China whose officials received the improper payments.
