Liberty Mutual in first US bribery settlement since Trump freeze ended
In a letter made public on Monday, the Justice Department said the subsidiary, Liberty General Insurance, paid $1.47 million in bribes to six state-owned banks, which in exchange referred customers to its insurance products.
Liberty's scheme ran from 2017 to 2022 and resulted in $9.2 million in revenue and the $4.7 million in profit, the letter said.
The Justice Department said the settlement reflected Liberty's acceptance of responsibility, cooperation including its March 2024 disclosure of the misconduct, and compliance upgrades.
In February, U.S. President Donald Trump halted enforcement of the anti-bribery law, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, saying its overuse denied a level playing field, opens new tab to U.S. companies, harming economic competitiveness and national security.
The Justice Department restarted enforcement with a scaled-back approach focused on misconduct that hurts U.S. competitiveness, involves key infrastructure, and is tied to cartels or transnational criminal groups.
Liberty's settlement is fairly small. A wide range of multinational companies have been prosecuted under the anti-bribery law, including Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab and Sweden's Ericsson (ERICb.ST), opens new tab.
In a statement, Liberty said it was pleased the Justice Department "acknowledged our proactive approach and affirmed our commitment to integrity and compliance across our global enterprise."
Bloomberg News reported the settlement earlier on Monday.
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