5 Biggest Bribery Cases in Business History

In this article we are going to list the 5 biggest bribery cases in business history. For a detailed coverage of this topic and a more comprehensive list please head on over to the 15 biggest bribery cases in business history.

5. FIFA

The highest governing body of the most popular and lucrative sport in the world, FIFA was ripe for corruption and  investigations ended up proving this point, accusing the leadership within the organization of not just bribery and corruption, but also the rigging of votes to ensure infamous chief Sepp Blatter remained the President, as well as the votes regarding the awarding of World Cups to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Many of these officials have been charged on money laundering, wire fraud and racketeering.

4. The 1MDB Fund

The story of the 1MDB Fund is so incredible, that it has had movies and documentaries made about it. While a political scandal at the heart of it, this wouldn’t have been possible without corruption and bribery from corporations, including Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS). 1MDB was a government run development company, whose funds were transferred by a prominent businessman to the tune of $700 million at least into his own bank accounts. The then Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak was involved as well, with assets and cash worth tens of millions of dollars recovered from his home. The company showed debts of close to $12 billion, of which around $3 billion were due to a state-issued bond, at the center of which was Goldman Sachs, which made hundreds of millions of dollars in fees from the bond issue. The money was even used to finance The Wolf of Wall Street.

The end result of the scandal being exposes was Najib being removed from the post of Prime Minister, with Mahathir Mohamed being elected the new Prime Minister, who then led an investigation into the corruption, resulting in a 12 year sentence for Najib. Two former employees of Goldman Sachs were charged, with one admitting that money from the fund was diverted to his personal bank account.

4. Total SA (NYSE:TOT)

Total is one of the biggest petroleum companies in the world and one of the biggest companies in France as well. However, it also unfortunately has a habit of engaging in bribery practices, which include bribes in Italy worth 15 million euros in 2008, and bribery in Iran worth 60 million dollars, which earned the company more than $150 million in profits. Total ended up paying around $400 million for this bribery scandal. However, now, a new scandal is emerging in the country of Malta, where Total refused to do business until a specific person was among the Maltese agents negotiation. This person, George Farrugia, has been currently provided a presidential pardon so he can make the case against Total, which is currently not allowed to do business in Malta as a result of these allegations.

3. Siemens

The most amazing thing about the Siemens bribery scandal isn’t just the fact that it happened, but that it was the rule rather than the exception. It was standard operating procedure for the company to pay bribes to secure contracts. The company didn’t pay bribes in just Germany or a couple of other nations. It was involved in paying bribes worth over $1.3 billion in several nations, with the company ending up paying over $800 million in fines to the US and Germany. This was the largest bribery fine ever at the time in 2008.

2. Odebrecht

It is said to be the largest foreign bribery cases ever, and just missed out on our top stop. Odebrecht is  a Brazilian multinational, and admitted to corruption and bribery in not just Brazil, but 12 separate nations, in a cash for contracts scheme. Between 2001 and 2016, the company paid over $788 million in bribes throughout nations in Latin America, resulting in its CEO being jailed for nearly 20 years. The company subsequently filed for bankruptcy in 2019.

1. Airbus

Topping the list of the 5 biggest bribery cases in business history is Airbus, which has been accused of bribing foreign officials since 2003. However, the biggest investigations by French and British Agencies were launched after 2016, regarding bribes paid in several different countries to officials. The company ended up paying more than 5 billion Euros in fines to France, the United Kingdom and the US.

See also: 10 most corrupt politicians in US history and 10 most corrupt presidents in US history