Las Vegas Sands (LVS -0.92%) has lashed out at various media regarding what it characterized as "misleading and sensationalistic" reporting of the company's recently filed 10-K disclosure to the SEC. In that document, the company wrote that an internal review "had reached certain preliminary findings, including that there were likely violations of the books and record and internal controls provisions" of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The FCPA is a federal law that prohibits American companies from bribing public officials in foreign countries.
The company has accused media outlets of reporting the news in an "inflammatory and defamatory" manner. It singled out The New York Times, which ran an article on the subject headlined "Casino Says It Likely Cheated."
Las Vegas Sands emphasized that "it will vigorously defend itself against that type of uninformed and misleading reporting."
In a Sunday press release, the company said it "did not report any violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA" and "insists no violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA have occurred." It noted that it said in the 10-K that there were likely violations of accounting provisions and "a potential violation of the accounting provisions could range anywhere from a single transaction recorded incorrectly to other errors in the accounting records."
