{"id":2013416,"date":"2023-08-27T08:46:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T12:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/3m-fined-6-5-million-for-secretly-funding-chinese-officials-overseas-trips-shopping-sprees\/"},"modified":"2023-08-27T08:51:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T12:51:34","slug":"3m-fined-6-5-million-for-secretly-funding-chinese-officials-overseas-trips-shopping-sprees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/3m-fined-6-5-million-for-secretly-funding-chinese-officials-overseas-trips-shopping-sprees\/","title":{"rendered":"3M fined $6.5M for covertly funding Chinese officials&#8217; trips and shopping sprees."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F3m-fined-6-5-million-for-secretly-funding-chinese-officials-overseas-trips-shopping-sprees%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2013416&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>3M Settles \u2062Charges for Secretly Sending Chinese \u2064Officials\u2062 on\u200d Paid Trips<\/h2>\n<p>3M, the multinational conglomerate, has agreed to pay over $6.5 million to settle charges brought against its Chinese subsidiary. The charges \u200ballege that the subsidiary organized paid trips for Chinese officials to the United States and Australia,\u200b all in\u2063 an effort to boost company sales.<\/p>\n<p>According to the \u200cSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 3M&#8217;s Chinese unit\u2064 arranged for Chinese health care officials \u200cto\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/seattle-man-arrested-at-airport-for-allegedly-trying-to-join-isis\/\" title=\"Seattle Man Arrested At Airport For Allegedly Trying To Join ISIS\">travel overseas<\/a> under the guise of attending conferences or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lilly-to-suspend-sales-of-non-essential-medicines-to-russia\/\" title=\"Lilly to Suspend Sales of \u201cNon-Essential\u201d Medicines to Russia\">marketing activities<\/a>. These trips included sightseeing and entertainment, all funded by 3M. The\u200b SEC&#8217;s investigation revealed that the scheme involved former 3M-China marketing managers and several staff members from various departments.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/article\/unilever-3m-on-list-of-firms-eligible-for-china-loans-to-ease-coronavirus-crisis-sources-3242980\">Unilever, 3M on List of Firms Eligible for China Loans to Ease Coronavirus Crisis: Sources<\/a> &#8211; 2\/19\/2020<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/article\/3m-stock-tumbles-after-profit-slump-announcement-amid-sluggish-demand-from-china-3219035\">3M Stock Tumbles After Profit Slump Announcement Amid Sluggish Demand from China<\/a> &#8211; 1\/28\/2020<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Working with two Chinese travel \u200bagencies, 3M-China targeted influential officials \u200cfrom state-owned Chinese entities. They created fake itineraries to gain approval from the company&#8217;s compliance personnel, while also planning alternative tourism \u200dactivities near the event venues to entertain the Chinese officials. The destinations included Los Angeles, Nashville, Boston, Chicago, and Sydney, with \u2064some officials even bringing \u2064their spouses along. The official agenda was filled with educational events, while the alternative itinerary focused on tourism activities. Notably, some officials were not provided with interpreters for the\u200c educational events due to language barriers.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200c SEC revealed that 3M-China paid nearly $1 \u2063million for 24 such trips and monitored the impact on sales. The company&#8217;s\u200c management sought a return on investment, and \u2062one employee was \u200cresponsible for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/3m-fined-6-5-million-for-secretly-funding-chinese-officials-overseas-trips-shopping-sprees\/\" title=\"3M fined .5M for covertly funding Chinese officials' trips and shopping sprees.\">tracking post-trip sales<\/a> to ensure \u200bthey aligned with 3M-China&#8217;s goals. The\u2064 SEC estimates that 3M improperly benefited from increased sales amounting to at least $3.5 million.<\/p>\n<h2>Chinese Travel Agency<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to the trips, between February 2016 and September 2018, 3M made 15 payments totaling \u2064$254,000 to a Chinese travel agency\u2062 for vaguely termed &#8220;marketing&#8221; efforts. These \u200dcosts were falsely\u2064 recorded as legitimate business expenses by\u200c 3M employees.<\/p>\n<p>The tourism activities were scheduled to coincide with the events the officials were supposed \u2062to \u2064attend, resulting in officials missing entire\u2062 days\u200c or not attending at all.<\/p>\n<p>3M has agreed to the settlement without admitting or\u200c denying \u2064the findings. \u2062The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/3m-settles-us-anti-bribery-law-charges-in-china-unit-sec-says\/\" title=\"3M resolves US anti-bribery charges in China, SEC confirms.\">company promptly reported<\/a> \u200dthe misconduct of its employees to the SEC and cooperated \u200cfully with the \u200cinvestigation. 3M took disciplinary action against the involved employees, terminated \u2062its relationship with the Chinese travel agencies, and implemented measures to enhance its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-secretary-of-state-investigating-voter-registration-group-run-by-democrat-raphael-warnock\/\" title=\"Georgia Secretary Of State Investigating Voter Registration Group Run By Democrat Raphael Warnock\">internal controls<\/a> and compliance program.<\/p>\n<p>Under\u200b the settlement terms, 3M will pay over $4.5 million in \u2064disgorgement and prejudgment interest, along\u200d with an additional $2 million in civil penalties, totaling more than $6.5 \u2062million.<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times has reached out to 3M for comment.<\/p>\n<h2>FCPA Cases<\/h2>\n<p>Charles Cain, chief of \u200dthe SEC&#8217;s Foreign Corrupt Practices\u200d Act (FCPA) Unit,\u2063 stated that this case highlights\u2062 the dangers faced\u2062 by companies \u200cwith global operations due to inadequate internal accounting controls. He also emphasized the role played\u2062 by complicit third-party vendors in exacerbating these\u200d dangers.<\/p>\n<p>The FCPA, enacted\u2064 in 1977, prohibits \u200dthe payment of bribes to foreign \u2062officials to obtain or retain business. The U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC jointly enforce the FCPA. The SEC\u200d established its FCPA\u200c unit in 2010 to strengthen enforcement efforts.<\/p>\n<p>There have been other notable\u200d FCPA\u200b cases, demonstrating the ongoing commitment \u2064to combat corruption in international\u200b business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>3M will pay over $6.5 million to resolve U.S. allegations that its Chinese subsidiary covertly funded trips for Chinese officials to the U.S. and Australia, aiming to enhance sales. Between 2014 and 2018, 3M&#8217;s China unit organized overseas travel and sightseeing for Chinese healthcare officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1483,"featured_media":2013417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2013416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1483"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2013416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2013417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2013416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2013416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2013416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}