3M To Pay More Than $6.5 Mln To Settle U.S. Bribery Charges

(RTTNews) - 3M Co. (MMM) agreed to pay more than $6.5 million to settle charges that it violated the books and records and internal controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement.

The SEC's order found that employees of a 3M wholly owned subsidiary based in China arranged for Chinese government officials employed by state-owned health care facilities to attend overseas conferences, educational events, and health care facility visits, ostensibly as part of the Chinese subsidiary's marketing and outreach efforts. However, the arrangements to attend the events were often a pretext to provide the Chinese government officials with overseas travel, including tourism activities, to induce them to purchase 3M products.

Specifically, the SEC's order found that, from at least 2014 to 2017, 3M's Chinese subsidiary provided Chinese government officials overseas travel that included guided tours, shopping visits, day trips to nearby sights, and other leisure activities.