On April 20, 2022, the Office of the Comptroller General (CGU) and the Office of the Attorney General (AGU) announced the signing of a BRL 109 million Leniency Agreement with Stericycle Group, specialized in hospital-waste-management, due to misconducts committed in 2017 in the context of medical waste collection contracts entered with bodies of the Brazilian Health System (SUS). The Leniency Agreement involved the companies Stericycle do Brasil Novas Participações Ltda., Stericycle Gestão Ambiental Ltda., Aborgama do Brasil Ltda., Stericycle Participações Ltda., Stericycle International LLC, and Stericycle Inc.
Simultaneously, Stericyle Inc. entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) due to violations of the antibribery provisions and accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Under the DPA, Stericyle was imposed a penalty of USD 52.5 million, but the agreement provides for the compensation of values that will be paid in Brazil. In addition, Stericycle Inc. agreed to pay approximately USD 28 million to resolve a parallel investigation conducted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
From 2011 to 2016, Stericycle offered and paid about $10.5 million in bribes to foreign officials in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina to obtain government contracts for medical waste management services.
In 2018, Stericycle proactively sought the CGU after conducting internal investigations that revealed violations of the Anticorruption Law (Law N. 12,846/2013) and the Improbity Law (Law N. 8,429/1992). The disclosure of the violations and the cooperation with the investigations were reflected in the reduction of the sanctions applied against Stericyle.
In Brazil, Stericycle agreed to pay the total value of approximately BRL 109 million, of which BRL 65 million will be paid as reimbursement of damages, BRL 3 million as a fine under the Improbity Law and BRL 41 million as a fine under the Anticorruption Law. In addition, Stericyle committed to update and improve its compliance and governance policies.
Stericycle’s global resolution was a result of another coordinated action involving the CGU, AGU and DoJ. The agreements consolidate the role played by Brazilian authorities in cases involving multiple jurisdictions and reinforce the trend towards global resolutions of transnational bribery cases.
For more information, contact Saud Advogados.