Alexion Pharmaceuticals on Thursday reached a $21 million civil settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that it violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act concerning bribes made by subsidiaries to foreign government officials in numerous countries.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...