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35 comments

IBM Settles Bribery Charge With $10 Million

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US

Money, money, money / Must be funny / In the rich man's world

IBM has received a slap on the wrist from the U.S. regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission in the form of a $10 million fine.

The fine addresses the SEC's belief that IBM used bribes in its business dealings in South Korea and China.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, IBM employees in South Korea paid 16 government officials a total of $207,000 in cash bribes from 1998 to 2003 to secure the sale of mainframes and personal computers. The cash was supposedly stuffed into shopping bags and IBM envelopes and then handed over in secret meetings in parking lots.

IBM is also accused of providing personal vacations for Chinese government officials from 2004 to early 2009. IBM employees in China supposedly created a slush fund at travel agencies to pay for vacation and sightseeing packages.

The $10 million settlement with the SEC is composed of $5.3 million in disgorged profit, $2.7 million in interest and a penalty of $2 million.

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Top Comments
  • 12 Ð
    jkflipflop98 , March 22, 2011 1:56 PM
    I like how the punishment for bribery is a forced bribe.
Other Comments
  • 2 Ð
    bigman8291 , March 22, 2011 11:43 AM
    Lol @ IBM
  • 2 Ð
    alyon , March 22, 2011 12:20 PM
    Big surprise. Business ethics in Korea/China are almost non-existent.

    Funny fact: Almost all Korean owned nail salons and dry cleaners tax evade. I get to look at many of their private statements... lets just say with their claimed income paying rent would not be possible but the amount is always paid. Usually they do this by not claiming all business done in cash.
  • 12 Ð
    jkflipflop98 , March 22, 2011 1:56 PM
    I like how the punishment for bribery is a forced bribe.
  • 2 Ð
    shloader , March 22, 2011 1:56 PM
    I've no doubt that they made more than that through the deal. Someone else just wanted a cut and going through the SEC keeps it on the up and up.
  • 3 Ð
    dEAne , March 22, 2011 2:22 PM
    Yeah, because of money you can make a man walk barefoot into hell.
  • 2 Ð
    alidan , March 22, 2011 2:42 PM
    dEAneYeah, because of money you can make a man walk barefoot into hell.
    ill walk barefoot into hell if you pay me enough
  • 4 Ð
    back_by_demand , March 22, 2011 3:05 PM
    alidanill walk barefoot into hell if you pay me enough

    I'll drive there you in my sin-wagon
  • 1 Ð
    neiroatopelcc , March 22, 2011 4:07 PM
    Bribery is common place in those parts of the world really. I once knew a person working for twinnings' indian branch, and they've set up specific budgets for bribery (mostly to ensure their packages don't get lost in transit I'm sure)
  • 1 Ð
    NewJohnny , March 22, 2011 7:09 PM
    Oh, the irony. Want to do something illegal? Incorporate.
  • 0 Ð
    TheDuke , March 22, 2011 7:13 PM
    They probably made more money off the benefits of the dealings overall than this fine.
  • 0 Ð
    csuwrx , March 22, 2011 7:21 PM
    lol @ ABBA's reference in the tittle xD
  • 3 Ð
    webbwbb , March 22, 2011 7:24 PM
    What I find to be strange is that a US government agency is fining them for actions that may or may not be illegal in the countries in which they were committed. It seem to me that they should only be able to fine them if those things were done in the US..
  • 0 Ð
    wawa sxm , March 22, 2011 8:50 PM
    its more open in those countries but bribes do exist in the usa dt fool yourselves, its just more exclusive and corporate
  • 1 Ð
    ubercake , March 22, 2011 8:58 PM
    Paying people off to settle a bribe...

    Makes perfect sense.
  • 1 Ð
    rohitbaran , March 22, 2011 9:19 PM
    10 million? What is it, like 10 cents to them!
  • 6 Ð
    pelov , March 22, 2011 10:13 PM
    wawa sxmits more open in those countries but bribes do exist in the usa dt fool yourselves, its just more exclusive and corporate


    Yea, we have a name for that: Lobbying.
  • 1 Ð
    Onus , March 22, 2011 10:14 PM
    You can do anything you like, legal or otherwise, as long as you pay the right parasites. Pay first, it's a bribe; pay after, it's a fine (or a tax).
  • 0 Ð
    milktea , March 22, 2011 10:55 PM
    That is why Politics and Businesses must coexists. No money, no power.
  • 2 Ð
    mikem_90 , March 22, 2011 11:07 PM
    pelovYea, we have a name for that: Lobbying.


    Damn Straight. There's not as much money in an envelope style bribery in big business inside the US these days. Most of it is done by taking a consulting job with a company later on. Do enough for a company? Get a job later on for a few years being paid to do nothing. Hell, I bet they even write up your reports for the IRS.
  • 0 Ð
    jalek , March 22, 2011 11:33 PM
    That's just how business is done there, the SEC must've been jealous.
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