Search results for: fcpa
FCPA in the Epstein Files!
Jeffrey Epstein sank his claws into rich business executives, political figures, and financiers around the world for years, helping them to advance their various untoward interests; so I’m surprised this question didn’t strike me earlier: Is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act mentioned in the Epstein Files too? Oh goodness, dear readers — yes it is!…
Read MoreJustice Dept. Talks FCPA Again
The Justice Department is launching a charm offensive with the FCPA compliance community this week, telling compliance professionals at a conference in Washington today that enforcement is returning to “more of the traditional cadence” and we can expect to see more enforcement actions next year. Whether anyone believes those words is another matter, and we’ll…
Read MoreMillicom FCPA Settlement, Part II
Today we return to that FCPA enforcement action last week against Millicom, which paid $118.2 million to settle criminal charges of bribery and corruption in Guatemala in the 2010s. The filings in the case have been unsealed, and they raise a few points worth compliance officers’ attention. First, a quick recap for those who missed…
Read MoreFCPA Enforcement Is Happening!
Who says FCPA enforcement has flat-lined under the Trump Administration? Well, pretty much everyone, including the Administration itself — but apparently not! Prosecutors settled FCPA charges on Monday with Millicom Cellular, which is paying $118.2 million and entering a two-year deferred-prosecution agreement for corruption payments in Guatemala. The news comes from Millicom itself, which issued…
Read MoreThe Troubling Smartmatic FCPA Indictment
Last week the Justice Department indicted Smartmatic, a voting technology company, for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. For compliance professionals it’s a bizarre moment: after 10 months of the Trump Administration telling us it would limit FCPA enforcement severely, the department turned around and took one of the most forceful actions it can against…
Read MoreNo, the FCPA Is Not ‘Back’
Folks, we need to have a conversation about all these legal bulletins, marketing emails, and conference agendas declaring that enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices is now somehow “back,” simply because the Justice Department released guidelines the other week explaining how it will consider FCPA enforcement from here forward. Snap out of it. FCPA enforcement…
Read MoreThe New FCPA Era Arrives
Well, the Justice Department has published its much-anticipated guidelines for future enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — and honestly, they’re a bit anticlimactic. Nothing in the new policies should surprise anyone who’s been paying attention, and nothing in them should change your compliance program all that much. The policy changes came in two…
Read MoreFCPA Probe Into Digicel Closed
The Justice Department has closed an FCPA investigation in a Caribbean telecommunications business, the second such closure since President Trump ordered a pause on all FCPA enforcement two months ago. The company in question is Digicel, headquartered in Jamaica and offering a range of mobile phone and internet services across the Caribbean. Digicel had first…
Read MoreFCPA and ‘Under Pressure From the President’
One of the great puzzles (to me, at least) about President Trump’s pause of FCPA enforcement was why he might want to allow U.S. companies to engage in corruption with foreign government officials. Now we can conduct a useful thought experiment, courtesy of the news that BlackRock is buying two ports that control access to…
Read MoreMore Musings on FCPA Enforcement
I wanted to share more thoughts today about President Trump’s order to pause all enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Lots of corporate compliance professionals have been talking about it — and while nobody has any clear sense yet of what comes next, we do have a better sense of the important questions to…
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