YIKES

Walmart Agrees to Pay $282 Million to Settle Bribery Probes

The company’s Brazilian unit was accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Walmart agreed to pay $282 million to settle a years-long investigation into whether its subsidiaries in Mexico, Brazil, China, and India violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Reuters reports. The Justice Department reportedly started probing the company in 2011, after The New York Times published a story describing alleged bribes paid to government officials in Mexico. The Justice Department found the company hired “third-party intermediaries” that paid officials in Mexico, India, Brazil, and China for permits and licenses to expand its global presence. “Walmart profited from rapid international expansion, but in doing so chose not to take necessary steps to avoid corruption,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski said Thursday. Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon said it has enhanced its “policies, procedures and systems and invested tremendous resources globally into ethics and compliance.”