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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

HP Admits Bribing Russian Officials

SAN JOSE (CN) - The Russian subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard will pay $58 million after admitting Thursday that it bribed Russian officials for contracts.

HP Russia pleaded guilty to felony counts of conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

ZAO Hewlett-Packard executives used a multimillion-dollar slush fund to induce Russian officials into awarding it a more than $35 million contract with the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Marshall Miller called the act a "brazen violation" of law, adding, "Even more troubling was that the government contract up for sale was with Russia's top prosecutor's office."

To finance the slush fund, HP Russia created excess profit margins by reselling products at a markup through a complex scheme, prosecutors said. The company kept a secret set of books that detailed the bribes.

In April, HP subsidiaries in Poland and Mexico admitted to violating the corruption law in connection with government contracts.

In total, HP must pay $108 million in criminal and regulatory penalties.

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