WASHINGTON (CN) - Stryker Corp. will pay $13.2 million to settle charges of paying bribes to get work in Argentina, Greece, Mexico, Poland and Romania and writing them off as business expenses, the SEC said today.
Stryker subsidiaries used third-party payers as far back as 2003, to win medical tech contracts and disguise the bribes, the SEC said.
For example, in 2006, a Stryker subsidiary directed a law firm to bribe a Mexican government official with $46,000 to win a contract, then repaid the bribe to the law firm, which provided no legitimate legal services, the SEC said. Stryker made $1.1 million from the contract.
Stryker agreed to disgorge $7.5 million, plus $2.3 million in interest, and pay a $3.5 million fine.
As is customary with the SEC, the defendant had to promise not to do it again, but didn't have to admit it did it all in the first place.
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