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Marubeni Corporation deferred prosecution agreement (2012)

Last checked: 23 October 2026 · Case records

On 17 January 2012 Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese trading company based in Tokyo, entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and agreed to a US$54.6 million criminal penalty 1. DOJ said the TSKJ joint venture hired Marubeni as an agent to help win Bonny Island LNG contracts in Nigeria, including by paying bribes to officials 1. DOJ said TSKJ paid Marubeni US$51 million 1. Marubeni agreed to a corporate compliance consultant for two years 1.
Resolution type
Deferred prosecution agreement 1,3
Date
17 January 2012 1,3
Court
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, criminal case 4:12-cr-00022 3
Agencies
U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division Fraud Section and FBI Houston 1
Penalty
US$54.6 million 1
Charges
Two-count information: conspiracy and aiding and abetting violations of the FCPA 1
Admission
Not quoted in the DOJ release 1. The DOJ copy of the agreement is a scanned image that this page could not read as text 3
Term
Two years 1
Consultant
Corporate compliance consultant for two years 1
SEC
No SEC action is described in the DOJ release 1

The agreement

DOJ filed a two-count criminal information against Marubeni in the Southern District of Texas on 17 January 2012 1. DOJ said the counts charged conspiracy and aiding and abetting violations of the FCPA 1. The agreement was filed the same day as document 3 in case 4:12-cr-00022 and runs to 54 pages 3.

DOJ agreed to defer prosecution for two years 1. DOJ said it would dismiss the information when the agreement expired if Marubeni complied 1. Marubeni agreed to pay a US$54.6 million penalty, to retain a corporate compliance consultant for two years to review its compliance programme, and to cooperate in ongoing investigations 1.

Marubeni's role, as DOJ describes it

DOJ said TSKJ was a joint venture of Technip S.A., Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V., Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. and JGC Corporation 1. From 1995 to 2004 Nigeria LNG Ltd. awarded TSKJ four contracts worth more than US$6 billion to build LNG facilities on Bonny Island 1. The government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation held 49 percent of Nigeria LNG 1.

DOJ said TSKJ hired Marubeni as an agent to help win and keep the contracts, including by offering and paying bribes to Nigerian officials 1. DOJ said Marubeni was assigned lower-level officials and Jeffrey Tesler, a UK solicitor, was assigned high-level officials 1. DOJ said a Marubeni employee was among those who met twice with successive holders of a top executive office to ask them to name a representative to negotiate bribes 1.

DOJ said TSKJ paid about US$132 million to a Gibraltar company controlled by Tesler and US$51 million to Marubeni, intended in part for bribes 1. Earlier DOJ releases in the same investigation describe the second agent as a Japanese trading company paid more than US$50 million 2.

What the DOJ record shows on admissions

The DOJ press release does not quote an admission by Marubeni 1. The DOJ case page lists the information, the agreement and the press release 3. The agreement posted there is a scanned file, and this page has not read its acceptance of responsibility paragraph 3. The other Bonny Island agreements on DOJ's site contain a paragraph in which the company admits it is responsible for the acts in the statement of facts, as in the JGC agreement 4. This page does not assume the Marubeni text matches.

Status and related cases

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said DOJ "has held accountable all five of the corporations" in the scheme 1. She said more than US$1.7 billion in penalties and forfeitures had been obtained from the joint venture partners, their agents and individuals 1.

The DOJ case page does not list a motion or order to dismiss 3. This page has not confirmed whether or when the Marubeni information was dismissed. It has not found an official or named-reporter source on any Nigerian proceeding against Marubeni. See the records for Kellogg Brown & Root and Halliburton, Technip, Snamprogetti and ENI, and JGC.

Common questions

Did Marubeni plead guilty in the Nigeria case?

No. Marubeni entered a deferred prosecution agreement in January 2012 1.

How much did Marubeni pay?

A US$54.6 million criminal penalty 1.

What was Marubeni's role?

DOJ said it was an agent for TSKJ assigned to lower-level Nigerian officials and was paid US$51 million 1.

Did Marubeni get a monitor?

DOJ describes a corporate compliance consultant for two years, not a monitor 1.

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Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Justice: Marubeni Corporation Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Investigation and Agrees to Pay a $54.6 Million Criminal Penalty, press release 12-060 (17 January 2012)
  2. U.S. Department of Justice: JGC Corporation Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Investigation and Agrees to Pay a $218.8 Million Criminal Penalty (6 April 2011)
  3. U.S. Department of Justice: United States v. Marubeni Corporation, case page and deferred prosecution agreement, 4:12-cr-00022, S.D. Tex. (17 January 2012)
  4. U.S. Department of Justice: United States v. JGC Corporation, deferred prosecution agreement, 4:11-cr-00260, S.D. Tex. (6 April 2011)

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