Ericsson pleads guilty in U.S. to federal bribery violations, agrees to pay $206 million penalty

Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications giant, has agreed to pay a $206 million penalty and pleaded guilty to violating the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This comes after Ericsson had already paid a $520.6 million penalty in 2019 for a “yearslong campaign of corruption” involving bribery and falsification of records in several countries. The Department of Justice accused Ericsson of violating a deferred prosecution agreement by failing to disclose all information about its schemes in Djibouti and China, as well as a possible scheme in Iraq. Ericsson used outside consultants to pay bribes and manage off-the-books funds in the countries involved. The CEO of Ericsson stated that the company is now focused on executing its strategy with integrity at the center of everything they do. The company denies making any payments to terrorist organizations.