Glencore bribery and market manipulation resolutions (2022)

The US guilty pleas

DOJ announced the US resolutions on 24 May 2022 ¹. Glencore International A.G. pleaded guilty to "one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA" in the Southern District of New York ¹. Glencore Ltd. pleaded guilty in the District of Connecticut to one count of conspiracy to manipulate commodity prices ¹.

DOJ said Glencore paid more than US$100 million to intermediaries over about a decade, intending that a significant portion be used for bribes ¹. The release names Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Brazil, Venezuela, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea ¹. On the Congo, DOJ said Glencore "conspired to and did corruptly offer and pay approximately $27.5 million to third parties" ¹.

Credits and the CFTC settlement

DOJ said it would credit nearly US$256 million in the FCPA case for payments to the CFTC, a UK court and Swiss authorities, if Glencore reached a Swiss resolution within one year ¹. In the commodity case, the plea agreement credits over US$242 million in CFTC payments ¹.

DOJ described a separate CFTC settlement totaling over US$1.1 billion ¹. DOJ said that figure includes a civil penalty of over US$865 million and disgorgement of over US$320 million ¹. This page does not cite the CFTC order itself.

Cooperation and disclosure

In the FCPA case, DOJ said Glencore did not voluntarily and timely disclose the conduct ¹. DOJ said Glencore did not receive full credit for cooperation and remediation ¹. It gave reasons: Glencore did not consistently commit to full cooperation, delayed producing evidence and did not timely discipline certain employees ¹.

In the commodity case, DOJ said Glencore Ltd. did not fully and voluntarily self-disclose, but it cooperated and agreed to keep cooperating ¹. Both US entities agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years ¹.

The UK case

The Serious Fraud Office prosecuted Glencore Energy UK Ltd at Southwark Crown Court ². The sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Fraser state that "Glencore pleaded guilty to all seven counts on 21 June 2022" ². Count 5 was amended on 31 October 2022 and a plea to the amended count was entered that day ².

Counts 1 to 5 were bribery under section 1 of the Bribery Act 2010 ². They concerned officials of state oil bodies including the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Cameroon's Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures and Société Nationale de Raffinage, and a state oil company of Ivory Coast ². Counts 6 and 7 were failure to prevent bribery under section 7, relating to officials in Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan ². Section 7 makes a commercial organisation guilty of an offence if a person associated with it bribes another to obtain or retain business for it ³.

The judge gave full one-third credit for the early pleas ². Fines before that credit were £274,403,087 ². After it, fines on the seven counts totalled £182,935,392 ². The court made a confiscation order of £93,479,338.95 and a costs order of £4,550,362 ². The remarks list these orders separately and do not state a combined total ².

Status as of the official records

At the time of the DOJ release, sentencing in the commodity case was set for 24 June 2022 and a control date for sentencing in the FCPA case was set for 3 October 2022 ¹. DOJ marks the release as archived and says its information may be out of date ¹. This page does not report later US sentencing outcomes, monitor reports or the Swiss and Brazilian proceedings, which were not confirmed from primary sources.