The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a settlement today with Halliburton Co. to resolve S.E.C. charges that bribes were given to Nigerian government officials over a 10-year period by KBR Inc., subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root LLC.

Halliburton was KBR Inc.’s former parent company, the SEC claiming that the duo engaged in records violations and internal controls violations related to bribery. The duo agreed to pay $177 million in fines to settle the charges, while the Kellogg Brown and Root LLC agreed to pay an additional fine of $402 million to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The act, called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, has never implemented sanctions of this size since inception.

“FCPA violations have been and will continue to be dealt with severely by the SEC and other law enforcement agencies, any company that seeks to put greed ahead of the law by making illegal payments to win business should beware that we are working vigorously across borders to detect and punish such illicit conduct.”

Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement - who is currently under review to be replaced - said that the case demonstrates the cooperative working relationships between the Department of Justice and the S.E.C.

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