Walmart pays $282m to end long-running foreign bribery probe
US’s largest retailer paid $1bn in legal fees over seven years, but penalty is lower than the more than $600m sought by the Obama administration
Washington — Walmart ended a seven-year investigation by the US government over payments made to fast-track store openings in several countries by agreeing to pay more than $282m in penalties. Its Brazilian unit admitted to violating a federal anti-bribery law.
In parallel announcements on Thursday, the justice department and the Securities and Exchange Commission faulted the US’s largest retailer for not having controls in place to vet third-party companies it worked with to open stores in Mexico, China, Brazil and India. Walmart will pay about $138m in criminal penalties and $144m in disgorgement to resolve the SEC’s allegations...
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