is nearing a deal to pay around $325 million to resolve bribery allegations in South Africa, according to people familiar with the matter, an outcome that would make the Swiss industrial company a third-time violator of U.S. antibribery laws.
The U.S. end of the deal as it is currently being negotiated would allow ABB to avoid pleading guilty at the parent-company level, according to the people familiar with the matter. Instead, ABB’s parent would enter into a U.S. deferred-prosecution agreement, while two of its subsidiaries would plead guilty to charges related to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, these people said.
Top officials at both the U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission recently have suggested they intend to levy harsher penalties on companies that reoffend, saying prosecutors should lean away from giving the same company multiple deferred-prosecution agreements, especially if prior settlements involved the same type of misconduct.