On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, Swedish telecommunications manufacturer Ericsson announced that it had reached an €80 million ($96.66 million) settlement with one of its competitors to compensate for commercial damages the competitor suffered as a victim of Ericsson’s corruption scheme.
Although plaintiffs’ securities class actions and shareholder derivative actions against publicly traded FCPA defendants have become a routine, if not automatic, collateral consequence in FCPA enforcement actions, it remains to be seen whether follow-on civil litigation from purported victims of bribery schemes will become a fixture of FCPA enforcement actions going forward. The result in Ericsson undoubtedly will inspire others. Companies under FCPA scrutiny would be well served to assess whether their commercial competitors were harmed by the alleged wrongdoing and whether any admissions in the DOJ or SEC resolution documents will have an adverse impact on the ability to defend against any such follow-on civil litigation brought by an aggrieved competitor.
Source:
- Lowenstein Sandler: Competitor Recovers Damages From FCPA Violator In Post-Enforcement Civil Litigation
