The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a settlement with Vantage Drilling International, whose predecessor, Vantage Drilling Company, failed to take adequate measures to ensure that the company’s outside director and third-party marketing agents would not engage in bribery in the Brazilian oil and gas market. The company’s former outside director and one of its marketing agents have been charged in Brazil with paying bribes to officials in the state-owned oil and gas company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras). The SEC order requires that Vantage cease and desist from violating Section 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act and that it disgorge $5 million. The SEC did not impose a civil penalty, in light of the company’s cooperation during the course of the SEC’s investigation, remedial measures it has taken, and its current financial condition. In August 2018, Vantage announced that the DOJ had closed its investigation into the company’s involvement in the Operation Car Wash scandal.
SEC press release | SEC order | Form 8-K | Attachment 99.1 to Form 8-K