For a one-page overview and Settlement Summary of the May 16, 2011, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), Consent Agreement with BAE Systems plc (BAES) go to http://www.scribd.com/doc/59079036/BAE-Systems-Plc-051611-Settlement-Summary-with-the-US-Department-of-State-as-of-070111. This follows a March 2010 Department of Justice (DOJ) action against BAES that resulted in a guilty plea and $400 million dollar criminal fine, one of the largest penalties in history.
This template summary is a factual overview of the two-thousand five-hundred and ninety-one alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations for BAES unauthorized brokering of US defense articles and services. The overall case and details make for “very interesting reading.”
NOTE: In my experience in putting these summaries together for the last 8 years, this is one of the most convoluted and inconsistent settlements ever. When carefully scrutinized, one has to wonder what the message from DDTC is. Clearly there were no winners here, but the obvious disconnects between the facts stated and in the settlement documents and actions taken, do not track.
To really appreciate all this, you must carefully read the entire settlement package on the DDTC website and then start comparing the text in different sections and with the consequences. I recommend you do just that and see what conclusions you come to and what you take away. Add your candid comments to this discussion thread.
This summary consolidates material from the Proposed Charging Letter, Consent Agreement and Order. It is a much more concise and consistent summary in a format that is particularly useful for C-level executives and trade compliance professional’s education/training at all levels.
Thoroughly reading settlements and monitoring various US Government enforcement and compliance resources should be an integral part of any trade compliance professional’s reading and an essential element in any comprehensive Trade Compliance Program. One-page summaries like these help get the word out in a bite-size way and allow readers to more quickly digest and compare individual cases.
This settlement summary is also available on my LinkedIn home page in the “View Full profile” mode at http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpriecko. Scroll down to the SlideShare Presentations portion and then click on the graphic “BAE Systems plc Settlement Summary.”
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For those of you who are really interested in a more in-depth “tell it like it is” analysis of this case, I strongly endorse Mark Menefee’s outstanding article in the June edition of The Export Practitioner. It’s under Enforcement Insights starting on page 15 and titled “A Cynic Explains BAE Systems’ Settlement.”
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious Mark spent a great deal of time putting this together and he highlights the long list of inconsistencies in detail. If you are a dedicated trade compliance professional who wants to glean as much as possible from this case, Mark’s article is a “must read.”
If you want to read it (and I highly recommend you do), go to The Export Practitioner website at http://www.exportprac.com/. If you are not already a subscriber, click on the ONE DAY PASS option, fill in the required information and go from there. It is well worth your effort.