The Justice Department said Microsoft will also
pay an $8.75 million criminal fine stemming from
the Hungarian bid-rigging and bribery scheme.
Federal prosecutors said that from 2013 through
2015, a senior executive and other employees
at the Hungary office took part in a scheme to
“inflate margins in the Microsoft sales channel”
in connection with Microsoft software licenses
sold to Hungarian government agencies.
Savings were falsely recorded as discounts and
used for corrupt purposes, the prosecutors said.
Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a letter to
employees this week that the misconduct was
“completely unacceptable” and involved a small
number of employees.
Smith outlined changes to prevent public sector
discounts from being used improperly and said
the company is expanding its use of artificial
intelligence to flag suspicious transactions.