SAN FRANCISCO — Mexico's state oil-and-gas company Petróleos Mexicanos has quietly dropped its RICO suit claiming Hewlett-Packard Co. paid bribes to win valuable government contracts.
The lawsuit stalled out in August after HP's lawyers pointed to statements in Pemex's own public securities filings indicating that an internal investigation of the alleged bribery scheme found no wrongdoing. The companies filed court papers jointly dismissing the suit on Wednesday.
Pemex sued HP and its Mexican subsidiary in December alleging that the tech company paid "influencer fees" to entities tied to corrupt Pemex officials in 2008 and 2009. The complaint drew heavily from HP's 2014 settlement with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission related to alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the company's operations in Mexico, Poland, and Russia. HP's lead lawyer, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partner George Conway III, declined to comment.
Pemex's lead lawyer, Richard Bernstein at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, didn't immediately respond to an email message.