Alcatel-Lucent pays $137M to settle bribe accusations

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) has agreed to pay $137 million to put a series of criminal and civil investigations to rest. Earlier this week the vendor was charged with violating rules of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The Paris-based company is accused to paying bribes in Costa Rica, Taiwan and Kenya. As part of the settlement, three subsidiaries will also plead guilty to antibribery rules. Alcatel-Lucent will pay a $92 million criminal penalty and $45 million to settle civil charges brought on by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We take responsibility for and regret what happened and have implemented policies and procedures to prevent these violations from happening again,” Steve Reynolds, the company’s general counsel, said in a prepared statement. “The violations largely occurred prior to the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies and involved improper activities in several countries.”
The company has also committed to no longer do business with sales agents and consultants, which it says were the primary means by which bribes were paid.