FCPA

TRACE International, the globally renowned anti-bribery standard setting organization, has published its annual Global Enforcement Report. The Global Enforcement Report (GER) provides graphic and textual analyses of all known investigations and enforcement actions involving transnational commercial bribery since the passage of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The findings note a reversion to the norm in U.S. enforcement actions concerning bribery of foreign officials...

Every quarter, Miller & Chevalier's International practice publishes a review of the latest FCPA enforcement actions. This is a comprehensive guide to actions against corporations and individuals, ongoing policy developments and related litigation and international developments.  

Costs can balloon quickly in FCPA investigations, however, these investigations don’t have to spin out of fiscal control. Corporate counsel can and should get to the root of alleged violations – certainly before the government does – without “boiling the ocean” to unearth the facts and decimating the organization’s bottom line. Based on Roscoe, Michael and Pat’s experience managing corporate investigations, both as defense counsel and as federal prosecutors, they recommend three fundamental best practices for conducting FCPA inquiries.

Asia Pacific continues to give rise to a large number of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions. Four of the nine companies that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Fraud Section includes on its list of 2017 FCPA Enforcement Actions are based or were operating in the region, as were seven of the 15 individuals prosecuted in 2017.

A new policy that has been enacted for enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act may significantly impact the way FCPA violations are handled within corporations. The more prompt these violations are handled, the better.

As U.S. Enforcement Lags, International Attention to Domestic Corruption Takes a Front Seat Despite assurances from senior DOJ officials that the U.S. would maintain robust enforcement of the FCPA, enforcement has waned in the first eight months of the Trump presidency, with the DOJ and SEC combined announcing only four enforcement actions since the President took office. with co-authors Maggie Grace...

Sharie Brown, chair of FCPA and Corporate Compliance at DLA Piper, provides a list of "red flags" companies can instruct their employees to watch out for to manage compliance risk of overseas operations. Red flags are included for the areas of anti-bribery, export controls, anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism, and anti-boycott risks.

While the resolution of the Telia Company (Telia) Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) matter has long been awaited, the results announced in September by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were stunning nonetheless. It is one of the largest FCPA resolutions of all-time, with a total fine and penalty of $965MM, which include $457MM in...

In late July 2017, there was an announcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the resolution of its outstanding Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action with Halliburton.  In a Cease and Desist Order which also covered former employee Jeannot Lorenz, the SEC spelled out a bribery scheme facilitated by both a failure and over-ride of company internal...

In the second quarter the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued two declinations which demonstrated that the DOJ Pilot Program is alive and well. Linde Gas and CDM Smith, both received declinations to prosecute by meeting the four prongs of the Pilot Program; (1) self-disclosure, (2) extensive cooperation, (3) extensive remediation, and (4) profit disgorgement.  These cases demonstrate the clear advantages...

Penalties for Noncompliance Remain Severe Attorney General Jeff Sessions has identified enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as a high priority for the Trump administration in its ongoing efforts to combat corporate misconduct.  News of this, along with other statements by officials within the Department of Justice, came as a relief to FCPA advocates given President Trump’s previous comments disparaging...

Defining a Risk-Based, Scalable & Sustainable Approach As companies continue to globalize their business opportunities, they are exposed to an ever-widening environment of anti-bribery and anti-corruption regulations. Moreover, the enforcement of such laws is increasing; for example, 2016 was a record year in terms of the number of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) actions brought by U.S. regulators and the...