Luxembourg-based company Bribery Case: $118 Million Settlement to Avoid Prosecution

Luxembourg-based telecom giant Millicom International Cellular S.A. has agreed to pay $118.2 million to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into a bribery scheme involving its Guatemalan subsidiary, Comunicaciones Celulares S.A. (Comcel), operating as Tigo Guatemala.

According to court filings, Comcel entered a two-year Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the DOJ after admitting to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

The agreement includes:

• $60 million criminal fine
• $58.2 million forfeiture of benefits gained from corrupt payoffs
• No corporate monitor, but mandatory compliance reporting to DOJ

The DOJ alleged that between 2012 and 2018,

• Tigo Guatemala executives and local partners paid bribes to Guatemalan officials—including members of Congress—to secure favourable legislation and business advantages.
• Payments were often delivered in cash-filled duffel bags, some allegedly sourced from narcotraffickers.

Millicom disclosed that

• These actions occurred when it lacked operational control over Comcel, which was then a joint venture.
• The company voluntarily self-reported the misconduct in 2015 and later acquired full ownership in 2021. DOJ reopened its investigation in 2022 after uncovering additional evidence.

The settlement avoided a potential $240 million penalty, reflecting DOJ’s recognition of Millicom’s cooperation, remediation efforts, and strengthened compliance program.

LONG READ

Luxembourg-based company Millicom lost control of its minority partner in Guatemala and bribed local officials with cash originating from narcotraffickers and delivered in stuffed duffel bags, conduct which could have resulted in a $240 million (€206 million) fine from US authorities, the firm has admitted.

The company, headquartered in Luxembourg but operated from the Miami area, delivers telecommunications services in nine Latin American countries, and is adding Uruguay and Ecuador.

Details of the firm’s dealings were included in an agreement which allowed Millicom’s Guatemala subsidiary to avoid US prosecution in return for giving up more than $58 million (€50 million) from benefits it gained from the corrupt payoffs, plus a $60 million fine, according to a court document filed last week that outlines the deal.

Under US law, it is illegal for companies to pay foreign officials to gain a business advantage.

The bribery campaign started around 2012, continued after Millicom reported the internal corruption to the US Justice Department in 2015, and persisted at least until investigators initially dropped the case in 2018, a narrative of the criminal conduct filed by prosecutors and confirmed by the company described.

“Despite Millicom’s 55% ownership share, Millicom lacked operational control over the company. The company’s Guatemalan shareholder used its operational control to prevent Millicom from accessing critical information,” and blocked employees from cooperating with the probe, said the narrative filed in a US federal court in Miami.

US officials reopened their bribery investigation in 2020 after outside tips, and by 2023, they were demanding details from the company about Millicom’s broader Latin American operations. Prosecutors did not specify the status of that broader investigation.

The company’s mobile and fixed phone services operate under the Tigo brand name in nine countries in Central and South America, and it has just finalised deals to add Uruguay and Ecuador.

Undeterred by the US investigation, the unnamed Panamanian company that owned 45% of Guatemala’s Comunicaciones Celulares continued funnelling bags of untraceable currency that “involved narcotrafficking proceeds that were used to generate cash for some of the bribe payments,” the document said.

“The money was generally transported to the Tigo Guatemala office in duffel bags by helicopter,” the court document said.

Repeatedly bribing members of the Guatemala Congress and reaping millions in undeserved profits qualified Millicom for a fine of between $120 million (€103 million) and  $240 million, US officials said. The penalty discount Millicom enjoyed was the largest ever granted to a company in an agreement related to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the company said when announcing the deal last week.

Corrupt payments to members of the Guatemalan Congress enabled the company to secure favourable legislation. One law allowed only the Millicom unit to build infrastructure for video surveillance systems without municipal approval, even though the company was not technically prepared to meet the contracts the national civil police had granted it, the document said.

Millicom purchased the Panama company’s stake in Tigo Guatemala four years ago, and the Luxembourg company has owned it in full since then.

Millicom reported employing 22 people in the Grand Duchy during 2024, down from 31 the previous year, according to the company’s latest annual accounts for Luxembourg filed in September. It employed 14,000 people globally as of September, the company said.

Source

• https://www.luxtimes.lu/businessandfinance/narco-linked-bribes-bought-favours-for-luxembourgs-millicom/105160016.html
• Deferred Prosecution Agreement (Full Court Document): Case 1:25-cr-20476-JB, U.S. District Court for Southern District of Florida [elobservadorgt.org]
• https://elobservadorgt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/dkt-17-tigo-dpa.pdf
• Millicom Press Release: Comunicaciones Celulares S.A. Resolves DOJ Investigation [globenewswire.com]
• https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/11/10/3185111/0/en/Comunicaciones-Celulares-S-A-Resolves-DOJ-Investigation-Related-to-Historical-Conduct.html
• Coverage by Global Investigations Review: Millicom subsidiary fined $60m over FCPA violation [globalinve…review.com]
• https://globalinvestigationsreview.com/just-anti-corruption/article/millicom-subsidiary-fined-60m-over-fcpa-violation
• Analysis by FCPA Professor: A Closer Look at the Comcel Enforcement Action [fcpaprofessor.com]
• https://fcpaprofessor.com/a-closer-look-at-the-comcel-enforcement-action/
• Compliance Commentary: FCPA Enforcement Is Happening! [radicalcom…liance.com]
• https://www.radicalcompliance.com/2025/11/12/fcpa-enforcement-is-happening/