SEC Whistleblower Program Continues, Rewards Two Individuals $450,000

Washington, D.C.- The SEC has continued to demonstrate its power in its new whistleblower program, rewarding two whistleblowers with $450,000 jointly. The third SEC whistleblower award this month, this payout follows a multi-million dollar settlement just last week, illustrating the SEC’s conviction in protecting, encouraging, and rewarding whistleblowers.

Article reproduced below, with original link following.

SEC ANNOUNCES THIRD WHISTLEBLOWER AWARD THIS MONTH, TWO INDIVIDUALS SPLIT $450,000

By Richard L. Cassin | Monday, May 23, 2016 at 1:28PM

The Securities and Exchange Commission awarded more than $450,000 jointly to two individuals Friday for a tip that led the SEC to open a corporate accounting investigation and for their help once the investigation was underway.

The whistleblower award is the third announced by the SEC during May, bringing the month’s payouts to $10 million, the agency said.

“The recent flurry of awards reflects the high-quality nature of the tips the SEC is receiving as public awareness of the whistleblower program grows,” Sean McKessy, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said in a statement Friday.

“These two individuals not only submitted valuable tips to help open our investigation but also provided valuable assistance as we proceeded,” McKessy said.

On May 17, the SEC awarded between $5 million and $6 million to a whistleblower whose information led the SEC to uncover securities violations which would have been “nearly impossible to detect” without the company insider’s help.

The award was the third highest ever granted under the SEC whistleblower program since the program’s inception in 2011.

On May 13, the SEC awarded a whistleblower more than $3.5 million for producing evidence against his or her company during an ongoing investigation “that strengthened the SEC’s case.”

In that case, the SEC first denied an award to the whistleblower because the informaiton related to an investigation that had already started.

After the whistleblower appealed, the SEC reversed its decision.

By law, the SEC has to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers and not disclose information that might reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

The agency has now awarded more than $68 million to 31 whistleblowers since the program started in 2011.

The biggest award so far was more than $30 million in 2014. A 2013 award topped $14 million.

Whistleblowers can be eligible for awards when they voluntarily provide the SEC with “unique and useful information that leads to a successful enforcement action.”

Awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of recoveries when amounts collected are more than $1 million.

The SEC received more than 4,000 tips last year.

Original Link

SEC Whistleblower Program Continues, Rewards Two Individuals $450,000

Cinnaminson, NJ- The SEC has continued to demonstrate its power in its new whistleblower program, rewarding two whistleblowers with $450,000 jointly. The third SEC whistleblower award this month, this payout follows a multi-million dollar settlement just last week, illustrating the SEC’s conviction in protecting, encouraging, and rewarding whistleblowers.

Article reproduced below, with original link following.

SEC ANNOUNCES THIRD WHISTLEBLOWER AWARD THIS MONTH, TWO INDIVIDUALS SPLIT $450,000

By Richard L. Cassin | Monday, May 23, 2016 at 1:28PM

The Securities and Exchange Commission awarded more than $450,000 jointly to two individuals Friday for a tip that led the SEC to open a corporate accounting investigation and for their help once the investigation was underway.

The whistleblower award is the third announced by the SEC during May, bringing the month’s payouts to $10 million, the agency said.

“The recent flurry of awards reflects the high-quality nature of the tips the SEC is receiving as public awareness of the whistleblower program grows,” Sean McKessy, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said in a statement Friday.

“These two individuals not only submitted valuable tips to help open our investigation but also provided valuable assistance as we proceeded,” McKessy said.

On May 17, the SEC awarded between $5 million and $6 million to a whistleblower whose information led the SEC to uncover securities violations which would have been “nearly impossible to detect” without the company insider’s help.

The award was the third highest ever granted under the SEC whistleblower program since the program’s inception in 2011.

On May 13, the SEC awarded a whistleblower more than $3.5 million for producing evidence against his or her company during an ongoing investigation “that strengthened the SEC’s case.”

In that case, the SEC first denied an award to the whistleblower because the informaiton related to an investigation that had already started.

After the whistleblower appealed, the SEC reversed its decision.

By law, the SEC has to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers and not disclose information that might reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

The agency has now awarded more than $68 million to 31 whistleblowers since the program started in 2011.

The biggest award so far was more than $30 million in 2014. A 2013 award topped $14 million.

Whistleblowers can be eligible for awards when they voluntarily provide the SEC with “unique and useful information that leads to a successful enforcement action.”

Awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of recoveries when amounts collected are more than $1 million.

The SEC received more than 4,000 tips last year.

Original Link

Guild Mortgage’s D.C. Location Enter Federal Suit for Knowingly Underwriting Loans for FHA Housing

Cinnaminson, NJ- Guild Mortgage knowingly filed hundreds of falsely underwritten loans to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) over the course of six years, most of which were defaulted upon.

Original Article:

United States Files Lawsuit Alleging That Guild Mortgage Improperly Originated and Underwrote FHA-Insured Mortgage Loans 

The United States has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Guild Mortgage Company (Guild) under the False Claims Act for improperly originating and underwriting mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Justice Department announced today.  Guild is a mortgage lender headquartered in San Diego, California.

“This case is another example of the  Justice Department’s continued efforts to ensure that lenders that participate in the FHA mortgage insurance program act in good faith and conduct appropriate due diligence when committing the United States to insure home loans,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “To protect the housing market and the FHA fund, we will continue to hold responsible lenders that knowingly violate the rules.”

Guild participated in the FHA insurance program as a direct endorsement (DE) lender.  As a DE lender, Guild had the authority to originate, underwrite and certify mortgages for FHA insurance.  If a DE lender such as Guild approves a mortgage loan for FHA insurance and the loan later defaults, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), FHA’s parent agency, is responsible for the losses resulting from the defaulted loan.  Under the DE lender program, neither the FHA nor HUD reviews the underwriting of a loan before it is endorsed for FHA insurance.  HUD therefore relies on DE lenders to follow program rules designed to ensure that they are properly underwriting and certifying mortgages for FHA insurance and DE lenders must certify that every loan endorsed for FHA insurance is underwritten according to the applicable FHA standards.

The government’s complaint alleges that, from January 2006 through December 2011, Guild knowingly submitted, or caused the submission of, claims for hundreds of improperly underwritten FHA-insured loans.  The complaint further alleges that Guild grew its FHA lending business by ignoring FHA rules and falsely certifying compliance with underwriting requirements in order to reap the profits from FHA-insured mortgages.  For example, Guild allegedly allowed underwriters to waive compliance with FHA requirements when underwriting a loan.  Additionally, Guild used unqualified junior-underwriters who did not have a DE certification to waive mandatory conditions on higher risk loans where HUD required underwriting only by highly trained DE underwriters.

The government’s complaint further alleges that Guild’s senior management focused on growth and profits and ignored quality.  From 2006 to 2012, Guild conducted at least 125 branch audits in which almost 40 percent resulted in either a qualified rating or unsatisfactory rating.  A qualified rating was defined as having a “significant number of findings, and/or findings noted that have more serious impact or risk to Guild,” or “Knowledge of procedures and controls; however, they appear to be inefficient.”  An unsatisfactory rating was defined as one where “serious concerns were noted: lack of knowledge, procedures, and/or controls in branch.”  The complaint alleges that, through Guild’s quality control reviews, significant defects were found in over 20 percent of the FHA loans reviewed between 2006 and 2011 and over half the loans had either significant or moderate defects.  Significant defects included fraud, misrepresentation and other serious findings while moderate defects included not following guidelines.  However, Guild did not calculate or distribute any error rate during the relevant time period, thus management was not presented with these findings.  Additionally, for many of the quarters from 2006 through 2009, Guild did not even distribute any of the quality control findings to management.  As a result, Guild management often did not review or remediate findings from quality control audits during these years.  In the quarters where Guild management actually did review quality control findings, it did so almost a year after the loans closed and failed to timely remediate any identified problems.  In 2013, when Guild finally began addressing the quality of its FHA underwriting, Guild’s head of quality control pointed out the ineffectiveness of its past efforts at addressing loan quality:  “I’m not optimistic about training reminders and individual follow-ups being all that effective.”

The government’s complaint alleges that as a result of Guild’s knowingly deficient mortgage underwriting practices, HUD has already paid tens of millions of dollars of insurance claims on loans improperly underwritten by Guild, and that there are many additional loans improperly underwritten by Guild that are currently in default and could result in further insurance claims on HUD.  For example, the government’s complaint identifies a mortgage loan that was improperly underwritten in violation of HUD requirements, causing the borrower to default and HUD to pay the loss on the loan.  Specifically, Guild failed to verify the borrower’s prior rental payments, overstated the borrower’s income, failed to develop a credit history for the borrower who had no credit score, exceeded FHA’s qualifying debt to income ratio without determining whether certain compensating factors were present, and failed to identify the source of a large deposit made to the borrower’s account.  The underwriter at Guild improperly waived multiple conditions and allowed an unauthorized junior underwriter to do the same for other conditions.  In sworn testimony, the Guild underwriter admitted the loan failed to comply with FHA underwriting requirements.

“The Federal Housing Administration’s insurance program is meant to encourage lenders to expand opportunity for homeownership by providing financing to prospective buyers who otherwise might not be able to enter the housing market,” said U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia.  “To ensure that prospective homebuyers realize the dream of long term homeownership, the program has strict rules and is not a license for lenders to carelessly subject federal dollars to risk. This lawsuit is designed to help the FHA – and American taxpayers — recoup tens of millions of dollars in losses attributable to a lender accused of improperly underwriting FHA-insured mortgages and committing the government’s guarantee to mortgages that failed to comply with program rules.”

“The decision to intervene in this matter should serve as a reminder of the priority given to pursuing lenders that violate HUD program rules in order to hold them accountable and the value of private citizen participation, including whistleblowers, in pursuing lenders that violate the rules,” said HUD Inspector General David A. Montoya.

“FHA relies on the honesty and integrity of those lenders participating in our program,” said HUD’s General Counsel Helen R. Kanovsky.  “The action we take today should send a clear message that we will not tolerate the abuse of our programs or of the families who should benefit from them.”

The lawsuit was brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act by a former employee of Guild.  Under the act, a private party may bring suit on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery.  The government may intervene in the case, as it has done here.  The False Claims Act allows the government to recover treble damages and penalties from those who violate it.

The investigation of this matter was a coordinated effort among HUD, its Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch.

The action is captioned United States ex rel. Dougherty v. Guild Mortgage Company (D.D.C.).  The claims asserted in the complaint are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

Original Article Link

Official Filing

Hitachi Chemical Plea Agreement Part 1- Robert Connolly

Hitachi Chemical Plea Agreement: Part 1—Enhancement of Compliance Program as a Condition of Probation

SEC Awards Over $5 Million to Whistleblower, Provides Anonymity

Washington, D.C.- The Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) whistleblower program continues to build momentum, awarding its third-highest whistleblower payment ($5-6 million) as well as censoring his/her identity and former employer.

 The subsequent article is reproduced below, with original link following.

 

SEC Awards More Than $5 Million to Whistleblower Award is SEC Program’s Third Highest to Date

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2016-91

Washington D.C., May 17, 2016 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it will award between $5 million and $6 million to a former company insider whose detailed tip led the agency to uncover securities violations that would have been nearly impossible for it to detect but for the whistleblower’s information.

“Employees are often best positioned to witness wrongdoing,” said Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  “When they report specific and credible tips to us, we will leverage that inside knowledge to advance our enforcement of the securities laws and better protect investors and the marketplace.”

Today’s award is the SEC’s third highest to a whistleblower.  In September 2014, the agency announced a more than $30 million whistleblower award, exceeding the prior highest award of more than $14 million announced in October 2013.  Since the inception of the whistleblower program in 2011, the SEC has awarded more than $67 million to 29 whistleblowers, including one for more than $3.5 million announced last week.

“The whistleblower program has seen tremendous growth since its inception and we anticipate the continued issuance of significant whistleblower awards in the months and years to come,” said Sean X. McKessy, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.

By law, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with unique and useful information that leads to a successful enforcement action.

Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.  All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators.  No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards.

For more information about the whistleblower program and how to report a tip: www.sec.gov/whistleblower.

Original Article

SEC Charges Shell Factory Operators With Fraud

The Microcap Fraud Task Force Activities have clearly been gaining momentum…

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a California stock promoter and a New Jersey lawyer who allegedly were creating sham companies and selling them until the SEC stopped them in their tracks.

The SEC alleges that Imran Husain and Gregg Evan Jaclin essentially operated a shell factory enterprise by filing registration statements to form various startup companies and misleading potential investors to believe each company would be operating and profitable.  The agency further alleges that their secret objective all along was merely to make money for themselves by selling the companies as empty shells rather than actually implementing business plans and following through on their representations to investors.

Moving quickly to protect investors based on evidence collected even before its investigation was complete, the SEC issued stop orders and suspended the registration statements of the last two created companies – Counseling International and Comp Services – before investors could be harmed and the companies could be sold.

“Issuers of securities offerings must make truthful disclosures about the company and its business operations so investors know what they’re getting into when they buy the stock,” said Michele Wein Layne, Director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office.  “We allege that Husain drummed up false business plans and created a mirage of initial shareholders while Jaclin developed false paperwork to depict emerging companies that later sold as just empty shells.”

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles:

  • Husain and Jaclin created nine shell companies and sold seven using essentially the same pattern.
  • Husain created a business plan for each company that would not be implemented beyond a few initial steps, and then convinced a friend, relative, or acquaintance to become a puppet CEO who approved and signed corporate documents at Husain’s direction.
  • Jaclin supplied bogus legal documents that Husain used to conduct sham private sales of a company’s shares of stock to “straw shareholders” who were recruited and given cash to pay for the stock they purchased plus a commission.  Some of the recorded shareholders were not even real people.
  • Husain and Jaclin filed registration statements for initial public offerings and falsely claimed that a particular business plan would be implemented.  Deliberately omitted from the registration statements were any mention of Husain starting and controlling the company.
  • Husain and Jaclin filed misleading quarterly and annual reports once a company became registered publicly, providing much of the same false information depicted in the registration statements.
  • Husain obtained about $2.25 million in total proceeds when the empty shell companies were sold, and Jaclin and his firm received nearly $225,000 for their legal services.

The SEC’s complaint charges Husain and Jaclin with violating or aiding and abetting violations of the antifraud, reporting, and securities registration provisions of the federal securities laws.  The SEC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest and penalties, permanent injunctions, and penny stock bars.  The SEC also seeks an officer-and-director bar against Husain.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Roberto A. Tercero and Spencer E. Bendell as part of the Microcap Fraud Task Force.  The litigation will be led by Amy J. Longo and supervised by John Berry.  The SEC appreciates the assistance of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.

M&T Bank Agrees to Pay $64 Million for FCA liability

M&T Bank Corp. (M&T Bank) has agreed to pay the United States $64 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department announced today.  M&T Bank is headquartered in Buffalo, New York.

“Mortgage lenders that fail to follow FHA program rules put taxpayer funds at risk and increase the chances of borrowers losing their homes,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “We will continue to hold lenders accountable for knowingly submitting ineligible loans for FHA insurance.”

“M&T Bank bypassed its responsibility to originate and underwrite mortgages in accordance with the standards required by the FHA,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. for the Western District of New York.  “This case demonstrates that when a financial institution takes such a detour, we will work to ensure that it does not bypass the consequences of that conduct.”

During the time period covered by the settlement, M&T Bank participated as a direct endorsement lender (DEL) in the FHA insurance program.  A DEL has the authority to originate, underwrite and endorse mortgages for FHA insurance.  If a DEL approves a mortgage loan for FHA insurance and the loan later defaults, the holder of the loan may submit an insurance claim to HUD, FHA’s parent agency, for the losses resulting from the defaulted loan.  Under the DEL program, the FHA does not review a loan for compliance with FHA requirements before it is endorsed for FHA insurance.  DELs are therefore required to follow program rules designed to ensure that they are properly underwriting and certifying mortgages for FHA insurance, to maintain a quality control program that can prevent and correct deficiencies in their underwriting practices, and to self-report any deficient loans identified by their quality control program.

The settlement announced today resolves allegations that M&T Bank failed to comply with certain FHA origination, underwriting and quality control requirements.  As part of the settlement, M&T Bank admitted to the following facts: Between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2011, it certified for FHA insurance mortgage loans that did not meet HUD underwriting requirements and did not adhere to FHA’s quality control requirements.  Prior to 2010, M&T Bank failed to review all Early Payment Default (EPD) loans, which are loans that become 60 days past due within the first six months of repayment.  Between 2006 and 2011, M&T also failed to review an adequate sample of FHA loans, as required by HUD.

Additionally, M&T created a quality control process that allowed it to produce preliminary major error rates that were significantly lower (sometimes below one percent) than what the rate would have been if M&T had calculated its preliminary major error rate by dividing the number of loans with preliminary major errors by the number of loans reviewed to determine what percent of loans contained a preliminary major error.

M&T Bank also failed to adhere to HUD’s self-reporting requirements.  While M&T Bank identified numerous FHA insured loans with “major errors” between 2006 and 2011, M&T Bank did not report a single loan to HUD until 2008, and thereafter self-reported only seven loans to HUD.  As a result of M&T’s conduct and omissions, HUD insured hundreds of loans approved by M&T that were not eligible for FHA mortgage insurance under the Direct Endorsement program and that HUD would not otherwise have insured.  HUD subsequently incurred substantial losses when it paid insurance claims on those loans.

* * *

“This recovery on behalf of the Federal Housing Administration should serve as a reminder of the potential consequences of not following HUD program rules and the value of private citizen assistance, including whistleblowers, in pursuing lenders that violate the rules,” said Inspector General David A. Montoya of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“It is critically important that FHA-approved lenders comply with HUD’s underwriting standards and originate mortgages that borrowers can sustain,” said HUD General Counsel Helen Kanovsky.  “We are pleased M&T Bank worked with the Department of Justice and HUD to arrive at an agreeable settlement that protects FHA’s insurance fund.”

The allegations resolved by this settlement arose from a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act by a former employee of M&T Bank, Keisha Kelschenbach.  Under the False Claims Act, private citizens can sue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery.  The share to be awarded in this case has not yet been determined.

The settlement was the result of a joint investigation conducted by HUD, HUD’s Office of Inspector General, the Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.

The lawsuit is captioned U.S. ex rel. Kelschenbach v. M&T Bank Corp, 13-CV-0280(S) (W.D.N.Y.).

ISRI gauging impact of coin buyback suspension

The American Metal Market Daily is the online resource for metals industry news and proprietary pricing information covering the steel, non-ferrous and scrap markets. Since its first print issue published in 1882, AMM has been the trusted name in metals industry information.  This is what AMM has learned about growing concerns reporrted by members of and recent actions taken by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI)  on their behalf (click below to access the article):

“Collecting coins out of scrap metal is a decades-old practice—particularly since the shredder came into being, and more so since the advent of advanced metal processing technology,” he said. “If it is hurting our members as a result of pricing of zorba or through the inability to sell direct back to U.S. Mint, then obviously we need to step in.”

Antitrust in Asia: HONG KONG: June 2-3, 2016

by Leave a Comment

I wanted to pass on some information about another great ABA Antitrust Section program“Antitrust In Asia.”  The program is in Hong Kong, China on June 2-3, 2016, but early registration savings end on May 12.  The faculty includes enforcers from China, Competition Commission of Hong Kong, Competition Commission of India, Japan Fair Trade Commission, Korea Fair Trade Commission, Competition Commission of Singapore, and the U.S. DOJ & FTC.

Antitrust enforcement in Asia has taken a prominent and increasingly important place in the global competition ecosystem. This conference features leading enforcers, academics, and practitioners who will address key developments across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as provide conference attendees unique opportunities to interact with top policy-makers.  Here is a link to the full agenda, which includes: Merger Review, Enforcement Directions in Asia, Abuse of Dominance, and Private Actions.  The conference also features a “Roundtable with Enforcers From China’s AML Agencies” (Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC)).  While the panels are always great, even better are the informal encounters with the enforcers, corporate counsel and other colleagues who attend the event.

Unfortunately, I won’t be attending.  I blew my modest international travel budget on the ABA Cartel Workshop in Tokyo, Japan in February.  Here is a short Cartel Caper blog post from that conference and a link to a conference follow-up article I wrote for Law 360 (here).  If you do attend the Antitrust in Asia conference and would like to post a blog entry about it, I’d be happy to publish it.  I am always looking to expand the international content of the blog.

Thanks for reading.

Virginia Security Contractor to Pay $44,000 Over Allegations of Illegally Exporting Firearms Accessories

Alexandria, VA — Pax Mondial LLC, doing business as Mondial Risk Management Company (MRMC), agreed to pay the United States $44,000 to settle civil fraud claims that it illegally exported firearms accessories from the United States to Afghanistan in 2012. At the time, MRMC was providing security services to support work on the Kandahar Helmand Power Project, a United States Government reconstruction project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The settlement, reached between MRMC and the U.S. Department of Justice in January 2016, resolves claims that MRMC violated the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) by shipping weapons accessories from the continental United States to a U.S. Army/Air Post Office (APO) in Afghanistan between April 2012 and June 2012.  Working under a subcontract for security services with USAID implementer Black and Veatch, MRMC obtained these accessories, which included rifle stocks, replacement pistol magazines, and other weapons parts, to supply its security teams in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  The government alleged that MRMC knowingly failed to adhere to its subcontract provisions and U.S. laws and regulations regarding the export of such materials in violation of the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq.).
“I commend the work of our special agents and their federal partners,” said Ann Calvaresi Barr, USAID’s Inspector General. “It is vital that U.S. Government contractors comply with rules governing their work and conduct overseas, especially those concerning international shipments of weapons and related accessories.  Failure to adhere to those rules is not acceptable.”
During the investigation, federal authorities identified a number of export violations, including MRMC’s failure to consult with the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), a step that is required under both U.S. export laws and MRMC’s subcontract provisions.  Authorities also found that MRMC had failed to acquire the requisite permits, licenses, and registrations in order to ship these controlled items and had not registered as an exporter with DDTC.  MRMC did not disclose these violations to U.S. authorities until early 2013, long after the shipments had been made.
Under the settlement, Pax Mondial made no admission of liability.  The company registered with the Department of State’s DDTC while the investigation was underway.
The settlement is a result of joint investigative efforts by the USAID Office of Inspector General; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.