Spanish phone giant Telefónica to pay $85M to resolve US probe of Venezuelan bribery scheme

WASHINGTON (AP) — Spain's largest telecommunications operator will pay more than $85 million to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into a scheme to bribe Venezuelan officials with a lavish Caribbean vacation and expensive watches.

The agreement with Telefónica S.A. announced Friday is the second time that the telco giant has faced bribery accusations in the U.S. after it was ordered in 2019 to pay a $4.1 million penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission for providing tickets to the FIFA World Cup for foreign officials it was seeking to influence.

The latest bribery scheme started around 2014, when a subsidiary of Telefónica bribed two Venezuelan officials to participate in an auction that allowed it to get U.S. dollars in exchange for Venezuelan bolivars, Justice Department officials said.

Telefónica's Venezuelan subsidiary bought equipment at inflated prices from unnamed multinational equipment suppliers, who through intermediaries then paid the bribes on its behalf in an attempt to hide the illegal scheme, prosecutors said.

In exchange, Telefónica received over $110 million in currency auctions that were then the only way for foreign companies to get around strict foreign exchange controls designed to curb capital flight and repatriate earnings in bolivars decimated by years of triple-digit inflation. The amount represented about 65% of the $172 million awarded to telecommunications companies that year, prosecutors said in court filings in Manhattan.

“Telefónica Venezolana chose to support a corrupt regime to circumvent the difficulties of conducting legal business in Venezuela," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, who leads the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

According to court records, a senior executive at Telefónica was summoned to a meeting in May 2014 in which two unnamed officials informed the executive that Telefónica would need to pay a “commission” on any funds awarded in the currency auction.

Some of the proceeds from the scheme were used to fund a $500,000 vacation for one of the officials in Saint Barthelemy in the French-speaking Caribbean. While there, another $605,000 was spent on luxury watches and jewelry for the official and their spouse.

The subsidiary is charged in U.S. federal court with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act but will avoid prosecution under an agreement with the Justice Department if it follows certain conditions.

Telefónica has been operating in Venezuela, under the Movistar brand, for two decades, one of 12 countries, most in Latin America, where it has a presence. It currently has 8 million wireless customers in the country.

Telefónica S.A. officials did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday.

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AP writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.