Mt. Sunapee, Loon buyer paid 412m to settle criminal, civil bribery charges

Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, the New York-based hedge fund that is buying 14 ski resort properties across the country, including Loon Mountain and Mt. Sunapee, earlier this year agreed to pay $412 million in criminal and civil penalties to settle charges related to offering bribes in several African nations, with some money allegedly going to the son of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the late Libyan dictator.

The settlement, reached Sept. 29, was the fourth-largest penalty ever levied under the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the first ever paid by a hedge fund.

At the beginning of November, Och-Ziff announced it was participating in a complicated three-way, $830 million deal to buy the 14 resorts, described by many as the largest ski resort transaction in history.

The agreement still has to be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the very agency that brought the civil bribery charges against Och-Ziff. Those charges resulted in $199 million in civil fines. The U.S. Justice Department lodged criminal charges as well, and they resulted in the rest of the penalty as well as some restrictions that mean more regulatory oversight over the hedge fund’s future investments.

Read more: http://www.nhbr.com/November-25-2016/Mt-Sunapee-Loon-buyer-paid-412m-to-settle-criminal-civil-bribery-charges/