Herbalife Charged by U.S. With Bribing Chinese Officials
(Bloomberg) — Federal prosecutors in New York charged health supplement maker Herbalife with paying bribes to Chinese officials though it agreed to defer prosecution of the company.
The case appears to be tied to a settlement the company disclosed in May with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission over similar-sounding charges. A spokesman for Herbalife didn’t immediately have a comment on the case.
Prosecutors unsealed an indictment Friday in federal court in Manhattan alleging that Herbalife from 2007 to 2016 provided corrupt benefits to Chinese officials, including those with government agencies and media outlets, to increase its business in that country.
At a hearing Friday, federal prosecutors said they had reached a deferred prosecution agreement with Herbalife relating to one count of conspiracy to violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The stock price was halted after falling $6.28 to $43.40 at 10:32 a.m. in New York.
(Updates with previously announced settlement)
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