Diageo hit with fine for state ethics breach in US

Diageo’s US arm has been slapped with a US$5,000 fine for not declaring money spent on hosting state officials during a political convention.

Diageo North America has been fined for not disclosing money spent on hosting state officials in a recent lobbyist report

Both Diageo North America and pharmaceutical company Pfizer have each agreed to pay the penalty to the Connecticut Office of State Ethics after they failed to report money spent on hosting state officials in their respective lobbyist financial reports.

According to CT Post, UK drinks giant Diageo, whose US operations are based in Norwalk, held a “welcoming party” attended by nine state officials in Charlotte restaurant, while Pfizer sponsored a party at a nearby winery.

However neither Diageo nor Pfizer, both registered as client lobbyists in Connecticut, reported the expenses.

Diageo said that it had underestimated the cost of the event, while Pfizer similarly said the failure to report costs was inadvertent.

A spokesperson for Diageo said: We thought we were under the $10 threshold. When we learned otherwise after receiving an inquiry from the state, we remedied the issue by amending our report.

“At Diageo, we take compliance very seriously and we cooperated fully with investigators on this matter.”