HP Bribed Russian Legal Officials

Hewlett-Packard was ordered to pay $58.8 million in fines by a judge on Thursday for bribing government officials in Russia. An HP Russia subsidiary had created a multimillion-dollar slush fund to bribe Russian officials in return for a contract with Russia’s prosecutor general. The plea deal was part of a larger one, costing the company $108 million for paying bribes for contracts in Russia, Poland, and Mexico. “For more than a decade, HP Russia business executives participated in an elaborate scheme that involved paying bribes to government officials in exchange for large contracts,” the FBI said.