Glencore charged with bribery in London, pleads guilty in the US

Mining and commodities trader Glencore (LSE: GLEN) has settled probes into bribery and market manipulation in the U.K. and U.S. that have hung over the company for years.

The company, which in February announced it had set aside US$1.5 billion cover the costs of settlements in the U.S., U.K. and Brazil, confirmed on Tuesday it would appear in court in the U.S. today in connection with "proposed resolutions" to probes into its activities.

Later in the day, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged Glencore with seven counts of bribery in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan. A London judge will sign off on separate penalties for Glencore at a sentencing hearing June 21.

In the U.S., the miner pled guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, agreeing to pay a US$429 million fine and to forfeit more than US$272 million to U.S. authorities.

Kamoto Copper (75% owned by Glencore) helmets at the Katanga copper-cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: Kamoto Copper Company.

Over the past four years, Glencore has been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Brazilian authorities for alleged money laundering and corruption.

The Swiss company disclosed in 2018 that the U.S. DOJ had requested documents related to the group's business in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Venezuela as part of a probe into possible corruption and money laundering.

Brazil also kicked off an investigation into Glencore and trading groups Vitol and Trafigura over alleged bribery of employees at state-run oil company Petrobras.

A year later, the U.K.'s SFO confirmed it was investigating suspicions of bribery by both the company and its staff.

The Swiss Attorney General followed suit, saying the probe was the result of a wide-ranging investigation by law enforcement agencies opened in early 2020.

Glencore, which is also subject to investigations from Swiss and Dutch authorities, has said the timing of those probes remains uncertain but would expect any possible resolution to avoid duplicative penalties for the same conduct.