Slaughters and Debevoise advise as Rolls-Royce agrees £671m settlement in bribery case
Rolls-Royce reaches Deferred Prosecution Agreement in response to allegations of bribery and corruption
January 17, 2017 at 05:28 AM
3 minute read
Slaughter and May and Debevoise & Plimpton have advised Rolls-Royce on a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which has seen the company agree to pay £671m to settle bribery and corruption cases in the UK and US.
Rolls-Royce has also reached a DPA with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and a leniency agreement with Brazil's Ministerio Publico Federal (MPF).
The SFO launched a criminal investigation into Rolls-Royce in December 2013, after a whistleblower claimed that the aerospace and defence brand had bribed the son of a former Indonesian president with a £13m Rolls-Royce car.
The terms of the DPA state Rolls-Royce will have to pay £497m plus interest under a schedule lasting up to five years. There will also be pay with regards to the SFO's costs. The company will also pay the DoJ $170m (£140m) and the MPF $25.6m (£21m).
With this DPA, the SFO is now playing in the big leagues
Approval for the agreement will be sought at a public hearing today (17 January) before Sir Brian Leveson QC, the president of the Queen's Bench Division, at Southwark Crown Court.
The Slaughters team advising the company is being led by disputes partners Richard Swallow and Jonathan Clark. Slaughters joined US firm Debevoise & Plimpton in advising Rolls-Royce, after Debevoise was instructed by the company when the claims were first aired in 2012.
Slaughters has acted on a number of recent transactions for Rolls-Royce, including its joint venture with Spanish automotive engineering company Hispano-Suiza in July 2014.
In November 2015, Lord Leveson ratified the first ever DPA by the SFO, after ICBC Standard Bank admitted liability and struck a deal with the SFO to avoid the uncertainty of a criminal trial.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner Robert Amaee – the former head of anti-corruption at the SFO – commented: "This is the third and most significant DPA secured by the SFO. It is by far the largest penalty that has ever been levied by the SFO in a bribery matter, and the first time that the UK's portion of the global settlement is higher than that of the US. With this DPA, the SFO is now playing in the big leagues."
White & Case partner Jonathan Pickworth – an expert in white-collar crime – said: "This is a very significant penalty and far greater than anything we have seen in the UK before. We will know more after the hearing but assuming that the DPA is approved, this will be a feather in the cap of the director of the SFO David Green and the SFO."
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Linklaters Sees Latest Partner Exit as UK Leveraged Finance Partner Walks To Simpson Thacher
2 minute read
Ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf Banking Lawyer on Trial in Germany’s Cum-Ex Tax Scandal
DLA Piper & Hogan Lovells Expand German Construction and Property Practices
2 minute read
White & Case, Cleary Among Firms Gearing Up for Biggest London IPO Since 2022
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Latham Lures Restructuring Partners From Weil, Paul Weiss
- 2Haynes Boone, Hicks Thomas Get Dismissal of $1.3B Claims in 2022 Freeport LNG Terminal Explosion
- 3Immigration Under the Trump Administration: Five Things to Expect in the First 90 Days
- 4'Radical Left Judges'?: Trump Demands GOP Unity Against Biden's Judicial Picks
- 5NY District Attorneys Are Still No Fans of Revamped Misconduct Watchdog
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
