Four Former Dimon Employees Settle SEC Charges
On April 28, 2010, four former employees of Dimon, Inc., now Alliance One International, Inc., agreed to settle SEC charges alleging violation of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA and aiding and abetting FCPA violations. The SEC filed the civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
According to the SEC’s complaint, during the period 1996 through 2004, Dimon’s subsidiary in Kyrgyzstan paid more than $3 million in bribes to various Kyrgyzstan government officials to purchase Kyrgyz tobacco for resale to Dimon’s largest customers. Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendant Bobby J. Elkin, Jr., a former countrymanager for Kyrgyzstan, paid bribes in Kyrgyzstan through a bank account held under his name called the “Special Account.” The complaint further alleges that Defendant Baxter J. Myers, a former Regional Financial Director, authorized all fund transfers from a Dimon subsidiary’s bank account to the Special Account and that defendant Thomas G. Reynolds, a former Corporate Controller, recorded the transactions in Dimon’s books.
The SEC’s complaint also alleged that, from 2000 to 2003, Dimon paid bribes of approximately $542,590 to government officials of the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly in exchange for obtaining approximately $9.4 million in sales contracts. The complaint alleges that Defendant Tommy L. Williams, a former Senior Vice President of Sales, directed the sales of tobacco from Brazil and Malawi to the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly through Dimon’s agent in Thailand by paying bribes to government officials of the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly. These bribes were characterized as commissions paid to Dimon’s agent in Thailand.
Defendants Myers and Reynolds agreed to pay civil penalties of $40,000 each. All four defendants also consented to the entry of final judgments permanently enjoining them from violating the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA and from aiding and abetting violations.