Halliburton to pay $29.2M to settle SEC violation

Oil services firm Halliburton will pay $29.2 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dispute over the company’s operations in Angola.

The SEC accused Halliburton and Jeannot Lorenz, its former vice president, of improperly partnering with local Angolan-owned businesses as early as 2008. According to the violation order, Halliburton worked with a local company owned by a former Halliburton employee who was friendly with officials at a state-run oil company in order to win oilfield service contracts in the country.

{mosads}Halliburton, which reported $15.9 billion in revenue in 2016, profited $14 million from the deals in Angola, which the SEC said violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The company will pay $29.2 million to settle the case.

“Halliburton committed to using a particular supplier that posed significant FCPA risks and a company vice president circumvented important internal accounting controls to get the deal done quickly,” said Antonia Chion, associate director in the SEC’s Enforcement Division.

“Companies and their executives must comply with these internal accounting controls that help ensure the integrity of corporate transactions.”

Halliburton and Lorenz, who will pay a $75,000 fine, settled the case without admitting fault.

“Halliburton promptly reported the allegation to the Department of Justice (DOJ), conducted a thorough internal investigation and cooperated with investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the DOJ,” the company said in a statement. “Over the intervening years, Halliburton also continuously enhanced its global ethics and compliance program.”