SECURITIES COMMISSIONS – UNITED STATES

Rio Tinto pays $43m in Mozambique settlement

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 21-Nov-23

Rio Tinto has reached a settlement with the US Securities & Exchange Commission regarding impairment charges arising from the acquisition of Riversdale Mining in 2011. The $US28 million ($42.7 million) settlement means that Rio Tinto and former executives Tom Albanese and Guy Elliott will not face any fraud charges. Rio Tinto paid $US3.7bn for Riversdale, and subsequently found that the quality of the company’s coking coal in Mozambique was lower than anticipated. Rio Tinto announced writedowns associated with Riversdale in early 2013, but it had been alleged that it should have done so much earlier.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Rio pays $22m to settle probe into Simandou

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 8-Mar-23

Rio Tinto has agreed to pay $US15m ($22m) to settle the US Securities & Exchange Commission’s investigation into payments it made to a Guinean political adviser. The SEC found that Rio Tinto had violated accounting and record-keeping standards by failing to properly document its engagement with Francois de Combret, who had been hired in 2011 to help the company to secure the mining rights to the Simandou iron ore deposit. The scandal resulted in the termination of two senior Rio Tinto executives in 2016.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Rio lashed over probe records

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 20 : 5-Apr-19

Rio Tinto has admitted that it had failed to provide the US Securities & Exchange Commission with a large number of documents relating to its ill-fated investment in Mozambique-focused coal producer Riversdale Mining. The SEC is investigating the conduct of Rio Tinto executives – including former CEO Tom Albanese – regarding the timing of a write-down of the Riversdale assets. Rio Tinto has blamed "technical problems" for its failure to provide some 25,000 documents to the SEC.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED, DISTRICT COURT OF UNITED STATES, GIBSON DUNN AND CRUTCHER LLP, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Coal price forecasts slowed Rio Mozambique impairment

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 26 : 7-Mar-18

Rio Tinto announced a $US2.86bn write-down in the value of its Mozambique coal assets in February 2013, less than 18 months after they were acquired for $US3.7bn in August 2011. The US Securities & Exchange Commission contends that a write-down should have been made much sooner. It also alleges that former Rio Tinto executives Tom Albanese and Guy Elliott had been aware that the value of the Mozambique assets had declined only months after their acquisition.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED, ALCAN INCORPORATED

Rio Tinto wants US fraud charges dropped

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 23 : 18-Jan-18

Lawyers representing former Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese have rejected allegations that he concealed the true value of a Mozambique coal project, arguing that other officers and employees of the resources group were responsible for asset valuations and impairment charges. Albanese’s lawyers, as well as those representing former CFO Guy Elliot and Rio Tinto, will ask a US court to dismiss the Securities & Exchange Commission’s fraud charges.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, JONES DAY

Rio Tinto and former bosses charged with fraud by US regulator over Mozambique coal

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Original article by Michael Janda
abc.net au – Page: Online : 19-Oct-17

Rio Tinto and former CEO Tom Albanese will contest the fraud charges that have been filed against them in the US. The Securities & Exchange Commission will contend that Albanese and ex-CFO Guy Elliott deliberately concealed the true value of a Mozambique coal project for which Rio Tinto had paid $US3.7bn in 2011. The SEC will allege that Rio only disclosed the real value of the coal assets after an executive informed chairman Jan du Plessis of the valuation discrepancy in early 2013. Rio Tinto subsequently wrote down the value of the assets by $US3bn and sold the project for just $US50m in 2014.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED, RIO TINTO COAL MOZAMBIQUE, VEDANTA RESOURCES PLC, GREAT BRITAIN. FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Rio facing US probe over Mozambique

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Original article by Matthew Stevens
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 29-Nov-16

It has been revealed that Rio Tinto’s 2011 acquisition of Riversdale Mining has been the subject of a confidential investigation by the US Securities & Exchange Commission. The probe into the $US4.16bn takeover of the Mozambique-focused coal producer predates revelations over the scandal surrounding the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea. A subsequent $US3.269bn write-down in the value of the Mozambique assets in Rio’s 2012 financial accounts led to the departure of several top executives, including CEO Tom Albanese.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, GREAT BRITAIN. SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, KIRKLAND AND ELLIS LLP, INTERNATIONAL COAL VENTURES LIMITED

BHP Billiton fined $31m over Olympics largesse

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Original article by John Kehoe, Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-May-15

The US Securities & Exchange Commission has fined resources giant BHP Billiton $US25m ($A31.6m) over the provision of hospitality services to government officials during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. BHP was found to have breached anti-bribery laws by providing Olympic tickets and hotel accommodation to officials from Asian and African countries, including China. BHP was a sponsor of the 2008 Olympics.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. CORRUPTION AND CRIME COMMISSION