Sanofi Settles SEC Case for $20.2 Million

As part of a settlement approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sanofi will pay $20.2 million to the U.S. government to resolve allegations the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by making payments in several countries to officials and healthcare professionals to influence them and increase sale of Sanofi products. “The funds used for the illicit payments were generated through fake expenses for purportedly legitimate travel and entertainment expense, clinical trial and consulting fees, product samples, round table meeting expenses, distributor discounts, and credit notes to distributors which were improperly recorded as legitimate expenses in Sanofi’s books and records,” an SEC order says. “Throughout this period, Sanofi failed to devise and maintain a sufficient system of internal accounting controls and lacked an effective anti-corruption compliance program with regard to Kazakhstan, Levant, and the Gulf.”