If compliance officers had any doubts about the long reach of U.S. regulatory interest in joint ventures with overseas partners, the Justice Department’s recent action again Marubeni Corp. should erase them.
In January the Justice Department announced a deferred-prosecution agreement and $54.6 million in fines against Marubeni Corp., a Japanese trading company, for funneling bribes to government officials in Nigeria who were working as part of a multi-national joint venture to develop a liquefied natural gas plant in that country.
