This morning Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) was charged criminally for paying bribes to Chinese officials. The action is related to criminal liability under FCPA (U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act).
The company disclosed in an SEC filing today:
- Herbalife violated the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA
- The company will pay $123 million as a settlement with the SEC and DOJ, and this amount has been included in current liabilities on the June 30, 2020 financial statemetns
- If the company doesn’t have any other violations for 3 years, this deferred charge will be dismissed
Herbalife disclosed in May that it had entered into a settlement agreement with the government. Today’s court proceedings make it official.
It’s fun to see pyramid schemes being held to account, even if it doesn’t happen often enough.