Clear Channel was fined $6 million, in addition to agreeing to disgorge approximately $16.4 million and pay prejudgment interest of approximately $3.8 million, for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the SEC announced in a press release Thursday.
The agency cited the company for anti-bribery, recordkeeping, and internal accounting control violations.
The details: From at least 2012 through 2017, Clear Media, a former indirect subsidiary of Clear Channel based in China, bribed Chinese government officials to obtain concession contracts required to sell advertising services to public- and private-sector clients, the SEC said in its order. Clear Media allegedly paid bribes both directly and through third parties, and it used sham intermediaries and false invoices to “generate cash for off-book consultants engaged to win advertising business from government and private customers,” per the order.
Bribes were paid in the form of gift cards, golf clubs, and vases, and Clear Media’s principal executive officer at the time spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on government officials for first-class travel, hotel rooms, meals, and entertainment, according to the SEC.
The improper…
