Insurance Broker Arthur J. Gallagher Says Justice Department Bribery Probe Has Ended

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. said a U.S. Justice Department investigation related to its insurance business with public entities in Ecuador has ended without charge.

Source: WSJ | Published on February 14, 2024

DOJ and Arthur J. Gallagher case

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. said a U.S. Justice Department investigation related to its insurance business with public entities in Ecuador has ended without charge.

The Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based insurance brokerage said in its annual report that the Justice Department’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit wouldn’t pursue an enforcement action against it. The firm revealed the original investigation in a late 2022 quarterly filing.

Arthur J. Gallagher didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment.

The Justice Department’s FCPA unit has probed corruption at state-owned enterprises in Latin America, a multiagency effort that yielded dozens of indictments against businessmen and current and former government officials in Ecuador and Venezuela.

Prosecutors settled in November with two U.K.-based reinsurance brokers that admitted to participating in a scheme to bribe Ecuadorean government officials, entering into three-year deferred prosecution agreements.

The Justice Department in March 2022 also declined to prosecute an insurance broker now owned by Marsh & McLennan over its use of an intermediary to obtain contracts with Ecuadorean state-owned insurer Seguros Sucre.