A court filing by federal prosecutors earlier this month lays out details about a series of alleged missteps that led Ericsson SA to agree to pay $207 million in fines. Prosecutors highlighted in particular how failures by the Swedish telecommunication company’s outside lawyers contributed to their decision to seek the new penalties.
The Justice Department in early March said it would take the rare step of tearing up a $1 billion settlement that Ericsson entered into in 2019 to resolve bribery offenses in China, Djibouti and three other countries. In a filing explaining how Ericsson allegedly breached the agreement, prosecutors attributed specific missteps to Ericsson’s outside legal counsel, including lawyers at firms Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan.
Source: Missteps by Ericsson and Its Lawyers Led to New Sanctions Against Company – WSJ
