Bribery Probe Costs Smith & Wesson $2 Million

SPRINGFIELD — Gun maker Smith & Wesson has agreed to pay $2 million to settle civil charges by federal regulators that it bribed foreign officials to sell firearms in other countries. The Securities & Exchange Commission said Monday that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by making improper payments as it sought to sell guns overseas to police and military groups from 2007 to 2010. In 2008, according to the SEC, Smith & Wesson hired a third-party agent in Pakistan to help secure a sale with a Pakistani police department. Company officials also authorized the agent to provide more than $11,000 worth of guns to Pakistani police officials as gifts and to make additional cash payments to them. Smith & Wesson eventually won a contract to sell 548 pistols to the Pakistani police for a profit of $107,852, the SEC said.