Millicom's Subsidiary Tigo Guatemala Pays Over $118M to Resolve Bribery Investigation

In November, Comunicaciones Celulares, doing business as Tigo Guatemala, paid over $118M to resolve an investigation by the Justice Department into a long-running scheme to bribe government officials in Guatemala. Tigo Guatemala is a wholly owned subsidiary of Millicom. Tigo Guatemala entered into a two-year deferred prosecution agreement in connection with a criminal information filed in the Southern District of Florida charging the company with one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. According to court documents, between 2012 and 2018, Tigo Guatemala engaged in a widespread and systematic bribery scheme orchestrated by its then-Guatemalan shareholder and other then-senior personnel. The scheme featured monthly bribe payments, usually paid in cash, to numerous Guatemalan members of Congress or members of their security teams, in exchange for, among other things, their support for legislation that benefited Tigo Guatemala. Some of the cash that Tigo Guatemala used to pay bribes were the laundered proceeds of narcotrafficking. As part of the DPA, Tigo Guatemala agreed to pay a $60M criminal penalty and $58.2M in administrative forfeiture. Pursuant to the DPA, Tigo Guatemala and its corporate parent, Millicom, agreed, among other things, to continue cooperating with the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida in any ongoing or future criminal investigation arising during the term of the DPA. TIGO Guatemala and Millicom also agreed to enhance TIGO Guatemala's compliance program and to periodically report to the department on remediation and implementation of compliance measures throughout the term of the DPA. The criminal penalty reflects a 50% reduction from the bottom of the applicable guidelines range, and the term of the DPA is for a period of two years.