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(Bloomberg) — The government watchdog that oversees foreign investment in the US for the first time named a company it had penalized — telecom giant T-Mobile US Inc. — as it escalated pressure on firms to comply with national-security rules linked to acquisitions.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius, fined T-Mobile $60 million earlier this year for failing to prevent or disclose unauthorized access to “certain sensitive data,” the panel said on its website. T-Mobile had signed a national security agreement with Cfius in 2018 as part of its merger with Sprint.
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This is the first time that the panel has disclosed the fine, and the decision to mention T-Mobile by name broke with past practice for a government body that’s known for secrecy and whose deliberations are often classified. The panel also published a list of all its penalties since 2018, though without naming the companies involved.
Cfius said the $60 million fine imposed on T-Mobile was the largest in its history.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, T-Mobile said technical problems some years ago had affected a few requests for information by law enforcement agencies. The company added that it reported the issue, and there was no breach of data.
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The move is part of an effort to promote more robust compliance with Cfius rules at a time when foreign investment to the US, especially from China, is drawing more scrutiny over national security concerns. The watchdog is reviewing Nippon Steel Corp.’s $14.1 billion takeover of United States Steel Corp., a deal that has drawn opposition from United Steelworkers and President Joe Biden.
Cfius reviews acquisitions of, and some investments in, American businesses by foreign buyers to determine if the deals pose risks to national security. It’s led by the Treasury secretary, with representatives from the departments of State, Defense, Justice, Commerce, Energy and Homeland Security.
The panel of government officials has sometimes thwarted acquisitions of American companies, typically by adversarial nations.
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