A unit of Alcoa as pleaded guilty of  bribing officials in Bahrain, including members of the royal family, in order to obtain contracts in that country.

The company admitted in the federal court that it was involved in the bribery case that was to win a contract to supply deal that was part of a scheme involving an elaborate system of shell companies and a consultant.  The deal resulted in nearly a half-billion dollars in profits for the Alcoa's company during the four year period.

The company pleaded guilty on thursday as part of settlement agreements with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.  Under the agreement the company has also agreed to pay $384 million. The documents released by the the Justice Department showed that Alcoa World Alumina conspired to use shell companies to extract inflated payments for alumina, the raw material for aluminum from Aluminum Bahrain.

The deal concludes a long standing investigation into if Alcoa and its unit, Alcoa World Alumina violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  The legislation restricts US firms from giving bribery to foreign officials for gaining favours in obtaining contracts.