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Hewlett-Packard Admits To International Bribery and Money Laundering Schemes

Posted by samzenpus on from the was-that-wrong? dept.

First time accepted submitter CP (1315157) writes "Hewlett-Packard has admitted to [bribery and money laundering] in order to profiteer off of lucrative government contracts in Russia, Poland, and Mexico, according to court documents. HP's guilty plea carries with it a $108 million penalty — a combination of SEC penalties, as well as criminal fines and forfeitures paid out to the Department of Justice. Thus far no criminal charges have been brought against American HP executives. The multi-agency investigation, which was conducted by multi-national law enforcement partners, the FBI, IRS, and SEC, has revealed kleptocracies in the three foreign governments and corruption and dishonesty among HP corporate fat cats."

28 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Corporations are not people by msobkow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Corporations are not people. They don't make decisions. Executives make decisions.

    Lock the bastards up.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:Corporations are not people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Agree,

      It wasn't the shareholders that did the bribing. Yet they're the ones that are going to be penalized. Everyone with a401(k) is essentially bribing the US government with the settlement to keep these executives from going to jail.

    2. Re:Corporations are not people by MathFox · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Executives make decisions.
      Lock the bastards up.

      Most likely one of the conditions of the settlement is that the executives are not prosecuted for their transgressions.

      And the executives will have the fine paid from the corporate funds... business as usual.

      --
      extern warranty;
      main()
      {
      (void)warranty;
      }
    3. Re:Corporations are not people by BurfCurse · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most of this happened longer than 5 years ago under different leadership. HP is still suffering from the mistakes of the past. HP was financially successful then but at a cost. This is the way people like Mark Hurd do business. Its all about short term gains. Being told your pay was being cut because of difficult times and it was necessary in order to survive, only to find out that 6 months later HP had record profits. That's why all the top performer's no longer work there.

    4. Re:Corporations are not people by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      If they didn't bribe in Russia, they'd get punished for failing to act in the best interest of the company's shareholders (which includes making business in Russia) instead. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    5. Re:Corporations are not people by kilfarsnar · · Score: 2

      Corporations are not people. They don't make decisions. Executives make decisions.

      Lock the bastards up.

      Of course, one of the purposes of a corporation is to limit liability. That way, if you start a business and fail, the creditors can't come after you personally. This is often seen as a good thing, encouraging risk taking without the fear of personal ruin. I might generally agree with that. But we are now seeing this limit on liability being used to shield decision-makers from the consequences of their decisions. This is especially true if the company is politically connected. What large company isn't these days? I'm starting to think the best way to commit crime is to start a corporation and have the "company" do it.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    6. Re:Corporations are not people by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Informative

      Really.

      Has there ever been a single documented case in the whole of history where the shareholders have ever successfully (or even unsuccessfully, for that matter) sued a company because the company wasn't doing enougl illegal stuff to bolster profits?

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    7. Re:Corporations are not people by afidel · · Score: 2

      No, corporations exist to protect the OWNERS, not the executives or the board. In criminal cases the government is perfectly capable of prosecuting the individuals who committed or ordered others to commit crimes.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    8. Re:Corporations are not people by meta-monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then find the people responsible for the laundering and bribery five years ago and put them in jail.

      Never happens, though. Two-tiered justice system. If you're rich, you get fined instead of going to jail. Just gotta make sure the government gets its beak wet. If you're poor, lock 'em up and throw away the key.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    9. Re:Corporations are not people by doggo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And this is the problem, isn't it? Corporations shield corporate officers from criminal prosecution. The is the reform that needs to happen in the U.S., and the world.

      Criminal acts perpetrated by corporate agents need to be prosecuted. The agents, and their managers, up to the top level held responsible and subject to the criminal penalties.

      Or, at the very least, if we're going to continue to wrong-headed assertion that "corporations are people", then corporations need to be held accountable. If the "corporation" commits a crime that a human would be sentenced to a prison term for, that corporation should be stopped from doing business for the time of the sentence. No production. No trade. No accounts receivable/payable activity allowed. Dead stop.

      Corporate acts that result in human deaths, means the corporation gets the equivalent sentencing, whatever the normal human sentence is.

    10. Re:Corporations are not people by cusco · · Score: 2

      $108 million in fines for HP, but when Halliburton was caught handing out over $100 million to Nigerian officials while Cheney was CEO there wasn't even an investigation in the US (and I think the suit in France eventually evaporated while he was VP).

      Really, this is not likely to change the way HP or anyone else of that size do business. First, it is very unlikely that the fines amount to more than the profit generated by those sales. More importantly, the fines come long after the people involved have left the company in the game of Corporate Musical Chairs, so their grotesque income will be unaffected.

      --
      "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
  2. $108 million penalty by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That equates out to like a $5 fine for those outside of the corporate bubble...

    1. Re:$108 million penalty by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even inside the corporate bubble it's actually less than what a teenager could get for sharing a few music files with his friends.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:$108 million penalty by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Informative

      HP's annual revenue is on the order of $100Bn, so $108m is about 0.1% of their income. The median US household income is about $40,000, so this would be equivalent to you receiving a $40 fine.

      For international bribery and money laundering.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    3. Re:$108 million penalty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      However, in this case "household income" is pretty equivalent to a corporation's revenue. When someone asks how much I make a year, I don't subtract all the money I spend and tell them how much I have left over.

  3. And no charges will be filed by fredrated · · Score: 2

    That's how justice works now in this third-world like corruption that governs business in the good 'ol USA.

    1. Re:And no charges will be filed by qbast · · Score: 2

      From TFA: "The Polish government has elected to charge several individuals — both from HP and the government — in criminal cases in an investigation related to the guilty plea from HP" . So charges in fact have been filed, just not in USA.

    2. Re:And no charges will be filed by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 2

      So what? If the people charged with a crime ever go to Poland, this might actually mean something.

      Ban HP products from sale in within the EU for a year. That's a proper and reasonable response.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    3. Re:And no charges will be filed by Frobnicator · · Score: 2

      So what? If the people charged with a crime ever go to Poland, this might actually mean something.

      In the article (yeah, who bothers with that) you will note that it was several of the regional executives who were fired for bribes. They are not meaning the CEO level.

      So yes, it is quite likely that some of those regional executives do live in the affected countries, and it will definitely mean something as they no longer have corporate ties to fund their defense.

      --
      //TODO: Think of witty sig statement
    4. Re:And no charges will be filed by slashmydots · · Score: 2

      You try and do business in crappy countries run by crooked assholes, this is what you have to do. Why do corporations not simply decide a country it too fucked up to do business in. If I was head of HP, first of all I'd fire everyone and shut down the company because they're basically a disease on the tech world. But besides that, I'd simply pull out of every messed up country until they get their shit together. It'd work like a non-UN trade embargo or sanctions that just occurs naturally. If Apple, Pepsi, HP, Microsoft, etc all started not selling their products in places until they cleaned up their acts, that's an awful lot of pressure on those countries!

  4. No subject. by Himmy32 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Hewlett-Packard has admitted to in order to profiteer off of lucrative government contracts in Russia, Poland, and Mexico, according to court documents.

    It's cool if you want to take part of the story for the summary, but you dropped out an important part.

    The Original:
    Hewlett-Packard has admitted to creating and using slush funds for bribes, money laundering, and clandestine “bag of cash” handoffs in order to profiteer off of lucrative government contracts in Russia, Poland, and Mexico, according to court documents.

  5. Re:In most of the world... by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 2

    oh.. ok. It's all right then. Never mind.

  6. this shit is infuriating by Connie_Lingus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    to someone who lives, on a a daily basis, with the discrimination and stigma of being a convicted felon for minor drug offenses, these kind of articles piss me off to no end.

    these corporate douchebags can blatantly break federal, state, and international laws and not even lose their jobs, where people like me who got caught with some recreational substance see their entire careers and life go into the toilet.

    fuck those HP crooks, AND the DOJ they rode in on.

    --
    never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
  7. US equivalent of Bribery Act by benjfowler · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the UK, we have a particularly strict law called the Bribery Act 2010, which is good, because it not only prohibits giving and receiving bribes to win business, but it also prohibits failing to prevent it.

    Does America have anything even close? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if they don't, because the US rent-seeker corporate Right would fight it tooth and nail.

  8. Re:In most of the world... by benjfowler · · Score: 3

    Doesn't mean that all cultures are equivalent. I certainly wouldn't want my culture being considered equivalent to (say) the Dayak head-hunters, Nazi Germany or the Af-Pak tribal belt.

  9. Oh Boy by rohis · · Score: 2

    Here comes to layoff to make up estimated $200m shortfall in revenue. (Management will stay the same so we can increase revenue further)

  10. Re:In most of the world... by kilfarsnar · · Score: 2

    You missed the point and are being naive. Cultures and attitudes vary across the world - not every culture mirrors yours.

    What does that have to do with US law? HP broke US law. They should be held to account for that. If your point is that HP couldn't do business in these countries without breaking US law, then perhaps HP shouldn't do business in these countries. However, from what I read, they broke the laws of these other countries as well. So it seems that this is not simply how business is conducted. I understand that you can't get a building built on Staten Island without the okay from the local boss. But that doesn't make it right, and it doesn't mean we should just accept it as business as usual.

    --
    "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
  11. Re:In most of the world... by stoploss · · Score: 2

    That's called business. In many places such bribes, and expenditures are just simply part of business. Those in government get paid low wages. The take is considered acceptable as long as its within reason.

    And many places like Eastern Europe, Asia, S. America. You're not building an office building without bribes.

    Right, as far as I understand it, you will not get business without bribes. However, thanks to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act this is illegal for US companies. Wat do?

    From what I hear, it's ideal to partner with a local firm to place the bid. Said local partner firm will charge you various "consulting fees" and you don't ask questions when you pay these invoices to your partner firm. I mean, who knows what they are doing? You are relying on them for local expertise, after all.

    Surprise, you win contracts without having bribed anyone. Must have been the technical merits of your bid package.