Thread: Tyson Foods to Pay $4 MILLION for Bribing Mexican Official

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 10, 2011

Tyson Foods Inc. Agrees to Pay $4 Million Criminal Penalty to Resolve Foreign Bribery Allegations

WASHINGTON – Tyson Foods Inc. has agreed to pay a $4 million criminal penalty to resolve an investigation into improper payments by company representatives to government-employed inspection veterinarians in Mexico, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

“Tyson Foods used false books and sham jobs to hide bribe payments made to publicly-employed meat processing plant inspectors in Mexico,â€

And you think I am going to buy any of their products?

If Tyson abides by the terms of the agreement for the two-year term, the department will dismiss the criminal information.

NO! They should go after them and get them anyway and throw them in prison if need be

Originally Posted by uniteasone

And you think I am going to buy any of their products?

If Tyson abides by the terms of the agreement for the two-year term, the department will dismiss the criminal information.

NO! They should go after them and get them anyway and throw them in prison if need be

They admitted guilt and the U.S. got 'em for $4 MILLION.
If they put them in prison we are stuck paying for them while they are locked up.

i would rather get tyson products than pilgrims pride, because the latter was busted about 2 years ago for having illegals in the work place.

and Tyson is part of a program to make sure its people are legal.
i remember that coming out about a month ago

Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:44 am

ICE & Tyson Foods partner in an effort to protect the nation's lawful workforce

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-225192-tyson.html

FROM NUMBERSUSA

Tyson Foods Using E-Verify

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 10:18 AM EST - posted on NumbersUSA

The corporate team at Tyson Foods took a recent plant tour as an opportunity to communicate their hiring practices. The company employs more than 100,000 people with more than $26 billion in sales. With the recent string of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at poultry packing plants, Tyson said it employs only documented workers.

"Tyson does not employ unauthorized workers," Cathy Johnson, vice-president of employment compliance, told The Courier in Russellville, Ark.

"Every single person that we employ, their information is entered into the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify program," she added. "That allows us to ensure that everybody that we employ is employment authorized."

E-Verify is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees.

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/ ... erify.html

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Originally Posted by uniteasone

And you think I am going to buy any of their products?

If Tyson abides by the terms of the agreement for the two-year term, the department will dismiss the criminal information.

NO! They should go after them and get them anyway and throw them in prison if need be

They admitted guilt and the U.S. got 'em for $4 MILLION.
If they put them in prison we are stuck paying for them while they are locked up.

Not necessarily. Considering Tyson's net worth, $4 million is probably no more than a drop in the bucket. Furthermore, Tyson will get their money back somehow, whether it be from cutting employees, raising prices, reducing quality, etc. So either way you look at it, Americans end up paying!

I'm with uniteasone, this was a criminal act and someone needs to go to prison.

Originally Posted by jamesw62

i would rather get tyson products than pilgrims pride, because the latter was busted about 2 years ago for having illegals in the work place.

and Tyson is part of a program to make sure its people are legal.
i remember that coming out about a month ago

This crime took place in Mexico, not in the U.S., so the inspectors were Mexican in Mexico.

Originally Posted by jamesw62

i would rather get tyson products than pilgrims pride, because the latter was busted about 2 years ago for having illegals in the work place.

and Tyson is part of a program to make sure its people are legal.
i remember that coming out about a month ago

Tyson has had their problem in the past too, james.

Excerpt:

Employment of undocumented immigrantsIn 2001, Tyson was charged with conspiracy to smuggle undocumented workers to work on its production lines. Tyson plant managers arranged for delivery of illegal workers with undercover immigration officials. Prosecutors alleged that the conspiracy to import workers dates back to 1994 when plant managers began to find it difficult to fill positions with legal workers. Of the six managers who were indicted, two accepted plea bargain deals, and one committed suicide one month after being charged. In March 2003, a federal jury acquitted Tyson of having knowingly hired illegal immigrants.[17][18]

In May 2006, Tyson suspended operations at nine plants during a nationwide day of immigration demonstrations citing expected lack of workers.[19]

In October 2006, a federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit brought by Tyson employees who allege that Tyson's practice of hiring illegal immigrants depresses wages 10–30%. The suit further contends that the company violated federal racketeering laws by conspiring with National Council of La Raza and League of United Latin American Countries not to question the employment applications of anyone with a Hispanic surname.

I believe Tyson copped a deal with the federal government and are now part of the ICE IMAGE program. IMAGE stands for "ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers." It is a voluntary program that includes training and assessments to help companies guard against hiring illegal employees.

February 10, 2011, 2:58 PM ET.

Tyson Foods Settles FCPA Probe, Agrees To Pay $5.2 Million

By Samuel Rubenfeld

Tyson Foods Inc. settled with U.S. regulators over allegations that it paid bribes to meat-processing plant inspectors in Mexico.

Danny Johnston/Associated PressThe Springdale, Ark.-based maker of prepared foods agreed to pay more than $5 million in penalties to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department. It entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement that charges Tyson with conspiracy and substantive violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law that bans bribery of foreign officials. However, the agreement allows the company to avoid prosecution if it complies with certain conditions.

Of those penalties, $4 million are a criminal fine.

According to court documents, Tyson’s Mexican subsidiary, Tyson de Mexico, paid about $90,000 between 2004 and 2006 to two publicly-employed veterinarians who inspected its Mexican plants, resulting in profits of approximately $880,000. Some of the money was paid to the veterinarians’ wives, who were on the company payroll despite providing no service to the company, according to the Justice Department.
The money was paid to keep the veterinarians from disrupting the operations of Tyson’s facilities, the Justice Department said.

“Tyson and its subsidiary committed core FCPA violations by bribing government officials through no-show jobs and phony invoices, and by having a lax system of internal controls that failed to detect or prevent the misconduct,â€