Rupert Murdoch's News Corp could face $100m bill for US investigation into 'police payments'

[Ichingcarpenter]

Source: the Telegraph (UK)

If convicted the company would face a fine many times that size, lawyers have warned.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have been increasingly aggressive in bringing cases against corporations under America's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). They have so far imposed penalties as high as $800m on companies – such as Siemens – where there has been evidence of persistent and unaccounted for bribery.

FCPA experts told The Telegraph it would be "very surprising" if the DOJ didn't take action against News Corp, and would be likely to do so this week. Any FCPA probe against News Corp would damage its reputation and could further destabilisie James Murdoch's position as Rupert Murdoch's heir apparent.

Experts said it would be likely to involve a "systematic and all encompassing" investigation of every one of its business units worldwide, to uncover unlawful bribery, legitimate payments wrongly accounted for, and to check whether sufficiently robust anti-corruption measures are in place.

News Corp would have to bear the cost of the probe, which sources said would "easily cost north of $100m" and tie the organisation up in red tape for between two and four years.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/8629180/Rupert-Murdochs-News-Corp-could-face-100m-bill-for-US-investigation-into-police-payments.html