Earlier this year, two senior executives, frustrated with the high customs duties imposed on their imports into Haiti, took matters into their own hands. They paid off a few Haitian officials. The Department of Justice looked into the matter and now one executive has been sentenced to 37 months in prison and the other to 63 months.
In another case, a company carrying out due diligence as part of an acquisition uncovered questionable payments and required the target company to report them to the government. The target promised to cooperate fully in the government’s investigation, but the sale fell through, their share price plummeted, they paid a record-breaking $28.5 million fine and now face a shareholder lawsuit.
