FCPA Compliance Hinges on the Tricky Definition of ‘Foreign Official’
By Catherine Dunn
Published August 27, 2012, Corporate Counsel
When it comes to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s prohibition on bribing a foreign official, just who, pray tell, does the U.S. government consider a foreign official? It’s a question that’s seldom come before the courts, but now, for the first time, is being considered at the appellate level—prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to weigh in on the definition through a response brief filed Tuesday. Read more
Corporate Anticorruption Compliance by the Numbers
By Ryan McConnell, Jay Martin, and Paula Bonavides
Published August 28, 2012, Corporate Counsel
Summer has come to a close without the promised beach reading from the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission: updated guidance on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Corporate counsel seeking detailed anticorruption rules are left with the compliance guidance set forth in (1) the federal sentencing guidelines, (2) the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development guidance, (3) the UK Bribery Act adequate procedures guidance, and (4) remedial compliance language in FCPA deferred and non-prosecution agreements. Read more
FCPA for Dealmakers: A Tutorial
By Frank Aquila, Kristina Veeraraghavan, and Jeffrey Lee
Published August 23, 2012, The Deal
With the recent sharp uptick in enforcement actions brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act due diligence has never been more essential to potential buyers. Since the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 has further incentivized whistleblowers to report FCPA violations, we are likely to see a further increase in FCPA enforcement activit Read more
Justice Department Drops Hints on FCPA ‘Instrumentality’
By Jaclyn Jaeger
Published August 22, 2012, Compliance Week
The Justice Department filed a legal brief Tuesday that offers more clues about how it defines an “instrumentality” under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, one of the most vague and nettlesome parts of the anti-bribery law. Read more
China Corruption Blotter (August 17, 2012)
By Chua Guan Cheong
Published August 17, 2012, FCPA Blog
In Foshan City (Guangdong Province), Shengjian Engineering Supervision Co Ltd owner Qiu Huiqiang was charged in court with spending more than $156,000 from 1999-2011 to bribe civil servants from the Foshan Roads Authority, Traffic Investment Management Department and Traffic Development Construction Center in order to secure contracts for traffic project supervision. Read more
Lessons On Antitrust Compliance From South America
By Joe Murphy
Published August 9, 2012, Corporate Compliance Insights
In the U.S., as far as the Department of Justice is concerned, antitrust compliance seems to take a back seat. In the compliance and ethics field, it seems that other risk areas come first; certainly antitrust today lags behind work in the FCPA/foreign corruption area. From the government’s perspective, the Antitrust Division has sent strong signals that they do not care about compliance programs; all that seems to interest them is rolling up large scores on the enforcement side. Thus, as long as their “pipeline” of cartel cases remains full, they appear to be quite content. Read more
