In parallel announcements on Thursday, the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission faulted the country’s largest retailer over payments made to fast-track store openings in Mexico, China, Brazil and India. Walmart will pay about $138 million in criminal penalties and $144 million in disgorgement to resolve the SEC’s allegations.WMT Brasilia pleaded guilty Thursday to failing to keep accurate records, while the U.S.
“The case may not have turned out to be as good or as fruitful as the government thought,” said Michael Koenig, a former federal prosecutor now a partner at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder. “This notion that the government is only successful if it gets a conviction or a billion-dollar settlement is just plain wrong.
But the Walmart case posed challenges for investigators. Much of the conduct uncovered in Mexico, for example, couldn’t be used as evidence because it was too old, people familiar with the matter have