It is the BIT Mining company subject to liability. At present, BIT Mining registered in the Cayman Islands is headquartered in Akron, Ohio, United States. However, at the time of the commission of the offence the headquarters of its predecessor, the 500.com company, was located in Shenzhen, China. Chinese branches of different foreign companies have been involved in criminal and administrative proceedings concerning FCPA violations numerous times (see, for example, the cases of Airbus, Avon, JPMorgan, PTC, SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Maxwell Technologies, Bristol-Myers and many others), but parent companies based in China had never been held accountable.

The case file states that 500.com specialised in providing online-services in sports lotteries orchestrated a massive bribe scheme with the aim to influence Japanese public officials, including members of Parliament. At that time, the country had lifted the ban on casinos and adopted a law legalizing gambling. In those circumstances, 500.com sought to enter the integrated resorts market* and to get the license to open a casino on the island of Hokkaido.

In total, the company paid also through its branch 500.com Nihon around $2.5 million in the form of remuneration of services of fictitious consultants who transferred the money to officials, payment for the services (lectures) directly to officials, and coverage of entertainment and trips of Japanese officials and their family members (attendance of a workshop on how to overcome gambling addiction and trip to a ski resort, among others).

In late 2019, Japanese law enforcement conducted searches in 500.com offices, pressed charges against the individuals who had provided it with fictitious consulting services and launched investigation against a number of high-ranking officials. In 2021, two of them were held liable: Tsukasa Akimoto, acting member of the House of Representatives, former deputy head of the Cabinet of Ministers and head of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism was sentences to four-year imprisonment** and a fine of 7.58 million yen ($69,000), and Akihiro Toyoshima, former political secretary, was sentenced to two-year imprisonment on four-year probation. Other individuals involved, including fictitious consultants, those who tried to bribe witnesses and the head of 500.com Nihon received suspended sentences as well.

The company itself was not subject to investigation in Japan. Late 2019, however, it established a Special Investigation Committee and hired the King&Wood Mallesons (KWM) legal firm to undertake an independent investigation. Based on the analysis conducted and KWM’s report, the commission concluded that there was no sufficient evidence of FCPA violations.

However, in November of the same year, US law enforcement pressed the following charges against BIT Mining as the legal successor of 500.com:

(1) Conspiring to violate the FCPA provisions on bribery of foreign public officials and accounting and violating directly the bribery provisions (US Department of Justice, DOJ);

(2) Violating the FCPA provisions on bribery of foreign public officials, accounting and internal control rules (US Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC).

As a result of the proceedings, BIT Mining concluded a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the DOJ and a Cease and Desist Order with the SEC and agreed to pay criminal and civil fines of $10 million***.

*An integrated resort is a megaresort hosting a hotel with a casino, conference rooms, entertainment shows, theme parks, luxury stores and restaurants.

**Nine months later Tsukasa Akimoto was released on bail in the amount of 100 million yen ($907,000) and promised to run for the lower chamber of Parliament in the next elections.

***The fine originally imposed by the US DOJ amounted to $54 million, but was considerably decreased due to insolvency of the accused company.