2 UK-Based Reinsurance Brokers Pay Nearly $37M to Settle FCPA Charges

Two British reinsurance brokers, Tysers Insurance Brokers Limited and H.W. Wood Limited, settled DOJ investigations on the companies' violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. The charges arose out of the parts played by Tysers and H.W. Wood in a scheme to bribe Ecuadorian government officials "to obtain and retain reinsurance business with" Ecuadorian state-owned firms.

Both companies will enter into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, under which Tysers will pay a $36 million criminal penalty and forfeiture of around $10.5 million. DOJ said the "appropriate criminal penalty" for H.W. Wood would be a $22.5 million penalty and forfeiture of around $2.3 million but that given the company's inability to pay the penalty, the firm would pay a $508,000 criminal penalty with no forfeiture.

The agreement also stipulates that both companies will continue to cooperate with the government in any present or future criminal investigations regarding this conduct and "enhance their compliance programs and provide reports to the department regarding remediation and the implementation of compliance measures." The deals were reached based on a number of factors, including the companies' prompt meeting of government requests, making foreign-based employees available for interviews, collecting relevant documents for the government, making factual presentations to the government and "timely accepting responsibility and reaching a prompt resolution."

From 2013 to 2017, Tysers and H.W. Wood allegedly paid around $2.8 million in bribes to the then-head of two Ecuadorian state-owned insurance firms, Seguros Sucre and Seguros Rocafuerte, along with three other Ecuadorian officials to obtain reinsurance business. The bribes were paid to Florida-based banking accounts and "effectuated through" emails sent in and meetings held in Florida, allowing DOJ to bring the criminal case in a South Florida district court. Tysers paid around $20.3 million in commissions while H.W. Wood paid $7.9 million to an intermediary company that paid the bribes.