On December 21, 2016, Odebrecht SA, a Brazilian company and Latin America’s largest construction firm operating in 27 countries, admitted violating the FCPA and agreed to the largest anticorruption fine in history $4.5 billion. Odebrecht built the Miami International Airport and was a major contractor for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics. Over two decades it paid $800 million in bribes to government officials in 12 countries related to more than 100 projects in order to reap $3.34 billion in illegal profits. The largest bribes occurred in Brazil ($349 million), Venezuela ($98 million), and the Dominican Republic ($92 million). The company’s former CEO has been sentenced to 19 years in prison and 77 other insiders have entered criminal plea bargains. Odebrecht’s petrochemical subsidiary, Braskem SA, has agreed to an additional $1 billion in fines. 

Questions 

1. What does this incident suggest about the integrity of many international business environments? 

2. Odebrecht has been described as “brazen.” Does this characterization sound correct? 

3. Following these events, Odebrecht’s credit rating plummeted, its revenues declined precipitously, and its workforce shrank from 250,000 to 140,000. Should boards of directors be concerned about whether their executives and employees are engaged in activities that violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?