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The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

ChevronTexaco Corporation

Oil For Food Program Kickbacks

Date: 11/14/2007 (Date of Settlement)

Misconduct Type: Ethics

Enforcement Agency: SEC

Contracting Party: International

Court Type: Civil

Amount: $30,000,000

Disposition: Settlement

Synopsis: Chevron agreed to pay $30 million to settle charges that it paid kickbacks to Iraq in connection with crude oil purchased in 2001 and 2002 under the United Nation’s Oil-For-Food program. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, intermediaries under contract with Chevron made approximately $20 million in illegal payments that bypassed the Oil-For-Food escrow account and were paid directly to Iraqi-controlled bank accounts in Jordan and Lebanon, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Under the agreement, Chevron, which did not admit or deny the SEC’s allegations, will remit $25 million in profits, pay a $3 million civil penalty, and pay $2 million to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls. (Chevron satisfied its disgorgement obligation by forfeiting $25 million pursuant to a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.) The Oil-For-Food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, was established to help Iraqis cope with sanctions the U.N. imposed after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Under the program, money from Iraqi oil sales was to have been used by the government to purchase humanitarian goods such as food and medicine. However, there were accusations of widespread corruption and abuse, with hundreds of foreign companies accused of colluding with Hussein’s regime to bilk the program of billions of dollars.