SEC settles with Smith & Wesson in bribery case

Gunmaker Smith and Wesson was fined $2 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for bribing officials in Pakistan, Turkey and other countries to win contracts.
Smith and Wesson was charged with bribing military and police officials between 2007 and 2010 to secure contracts, according to an order filed Monday by the SEC. The gunmaker did not admit or deny any wrongdoing in the case. The agency said that Smith and Wesson also agreed to fire its international sales team.
"Today's announcement brings to conclusion a legacy issue for our company that commenced more than four years ago, and we are pleased to now finally put this matter behind us," said Smith & Wesson Chief Executive James Debney.
In one case, the SEC said that the gunmaker had doled out more than $11,000 worth of guns as a bribe to a Pakistani police official. The company in return reaped a profit of $107,852 from the deal.
The Justice Department carried out a sting operation in 2010 that resulted in the arrest of 22 law-enforcement and military-equipment dealers, including Smith and Wesson's vice president of international sales at the time, Patrick Caldwell. Caldwell was later acquitted by a federal jury, with prosecutors declining to pursue charges against the company.
The company was also accused of bribing Indonesian police officials, as well as foreign officials in Turkey, Nepal and Bangladesh.