Word: sec
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Many more companies could be scarred by scandal before the investigations are finished. One company now under suspicion is Boeing, which supplies more than half of the commercial airliners flown in the non-Communist world. The SEC last week disclosed that it is investigating Boeing for possible bribery, kickbacks and illegal political contributions, and filed suit to compel the planemaker to hand over its records...
Over the weekend, Tenneco Inc., told the SEC that it had paid $12 million to attorneys, advisers, consultants and agents in 24 foreign countries. The company said that two payments totaling $10,000 to an official of an unnamed government "were improperly described on the books of the company and may have been improperly deducted for U.S. income tax purposes." Tenneco also acknowledged making contributions to candidates in Louisiana that violated state law. Meanwhile, there were reports that the Venezuelan Government was investigating bribes paid by Occidental Petroleum to local officials...
...penalties were light. The Watergate Special Prosecutor's Office meted out tiny fines-usually $5,000 for the guilty corporation and $1,000 for the top officer-and closed its books. But the SEC, fearing that the political contributions had violated reporting rules, promptly reopened all the cases. It discovered several slush funds...
...SEC has demanded that the offenders promise to stop violating U.S. securities laws by concealing illegal contributions in their reports to the SEC and the public. Most companies let the matter drop at that point. Some exceptions: Ashland Oil chose to make Chairman Orin Atkins and two other executives pay the company $325,000 from their own pockets, and 3M got several officers, including former Chairmen Bert Cross and Harry Heltzer, to give back $480,000. Thomas V. Jones resigned as chairman of Northrop and is supposed to be replaced as president no later than June 16; after that...
When it discovers questionable payments overseas, the SEC orders an auditors' investigation of how much was paid where and to whom. Investigators have found that Northrop distributed a staggering $30 million to foreign agents. Some U.S. corporations were embarrassed by publicity about their contributions even in nations where the laws condone such gifts. IBM, Mobil and Standard Oil of Indiana, among others, made legal donations in Canada and Italy. Exxon contributed at least $46 million to Italian politicians, some of it in return for specific favors...