Walmart has agreed to pay a $138 million criminal penalty to settle Justice Department claims that its Brazilian subsidiary paid more than $500,000 to an intermediary nicknamed the “sorceress” for her ability to resolve permit problems.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlement was reached Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Walmart did not immediately respond to a call and emails seeking comment.
The plea agreement filed Thursday shows Walmart has agreed to pay $138 million to avoid prosecution, while its Brazilian subsidiary, WMT Brasilia, pleads guilty to a single count violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The court documents say the corruption occurred in 2009 and 2010, and that the subsidiary’s corrupt acts caused the parent company to submit inaccurate financial records. In particular, the payments to the intermediary were recorded as payments to a construction company, even though there were numerous “red flags” to indicate that the intermediary was actually a government official. Walmart Brazil was barred from hiring civil servants.
The federal agreement does not identify the intermediary, but describes her in some detail: It says she became known inside Walmart Brazil as a “sorceress” or “genie” for her “ability to acquire permits quickly by ‘sort(ing) things out like magic.'”
The plea agreement also includes a provision barring the Brazilian subsidiary from making public claims or issuing press releases contradicting the facts outlined under the plea agreement.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, companies including Halliburton, Anheuser-Busch InBev, JPMorgan and Panasonic Corp. have all reached multimillion settlements under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act since 2016.
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart, one of the world’s largest retailers, recently reported quarterly earnings of $3.84 billion.
