Novartis AG agreed to pay roughly $25 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when its China-based subsidiaries engaged in pay-to-prescribe schemes to increase sales. A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation found that, from at least 2009 to 2013, employees of two China-based Novartis subsidiaries gave money, gifts, and other things of value to health care professionals, which led to several million dollars in sales to China’s state health institutions. The SEC found that Novartis failed to devise and maintain a sufficient system of internal accounting controls and lacked an effective anti-corruption compliance program to detect and prevent these schemes. Novartis paid more than $21 million in disgorgement of profits, plus a $2 million civil penalty and about $1.5 million in prejudgment interest.