In February, Glencore announced it had committed $1.5 billion to US, UK and Brazil settlement costs, and the company confirmed it would appear in US court on Tuesday over "proposed decisions" to investigate its activities .
Later the same day, the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) accused Glencore of seven counts of bribery in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and South Sudan. London judge to sign separate fines for Glencore at sentencing hearing on June 21st.
In the US, the company pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, agreeing to pay $700 million to complete a bribery investigation and more than $485 million to settle market manipulation charges.
“Glencore today is not the same company it was when the unacceptable practices underlying this misconduct took place,” Chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddy said in a statement.
The firm also agreed to pay more than $39.5 million under a resolution signed by the Brazilian Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPF) in connection with the bribery investigation.
Over the past four years, Glencore has been under investigation by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), SFO and Brazilian authorities for money laundering and corruption.
In 2018, a Swiss company reported that the US Department of Justice requested documents related to the group's business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Venezuela as part of an investigation into possible corruption and money laundering.
Brazil has also opened an investigation against Glencore and trading groups Vitol and Trafigura for alleged bribery of employees of state oil company Petrobras.
A year later, the UK SFO confirmed that it was investigating allegations of bribery by both the company and its employees.
The Attorney General of Switzerland followed suit, saying the investigation was the result of a wide-ranging investigation that law enforcement launched in early 2020.
Glencore, which is also under investigation by the Swiss and Dutch authorities, said the timing of those investigations remains uncertain but is awaiting any possible resolution to avoid duplication of penalties for the same conduct.
