Glencore's $1.5 billion in bribes bought oil access — and a criminal record

Glencore is one of the world's largest commodity trading and mining companies, founded by Marc Rich in 1974. By 2021 it was a FTSE 100 company with revenues over $200 billion, trading oil, metals, and agricultural products across the globe. Its growth in Africa was built on a network of relationships with government officials that the company later admitted were bribes.

On 24 May 2022, Glencore pleaded guilty to multiple counts of bribery and corruption in the United States and the United Kingdom. The bribes, paid between 2007 and 2018, targeted government officials in Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Glencore's UK subsidiary admitted to seven counts of bribery under the UK Bribery Act, including paying over $25 million to secure preferential access to oil.

Glencore agreed to pay approximately $1.5 billion to US authorities, $1.8 billion to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and additional penalties to the UK Serious Fraud Office. The company also paid $180 million to the DRC in a separate settlement. CEO Ivan Glasenberg had stepped down in 2021 before the settlement, and the company acknowledged the 'unacceptable practices' of the past. The case was one of the largest corporate bribery settlements in history.