Over the past week, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) unsealed its first Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement action and issued its first declination since the pause in FCPA enforcement mandated by...more
8/18/2025
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Declination ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Mexico ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Significant Transnational Criminal Organization ,
Trump Administration ,
Voluntary Disclosure
On June 10, 2025, the Deputy Attorney General issued the highly anticipated Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (“Guidelines”), complying with the directive in President...more
6/11/2025
/ Bribery ,
Cartels ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Investigations ,
New Guidance ,
Terrorist Organizations ,
Trump Administration
On May 12, 2025, Matthew Galeotti, the Head of the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice ("DOJ") issued a new white collar enforcement plan (“Enforcement Plan”) titled “Focus, Fairness, and Efficiency in the Fight...more
5/14/2025
/ Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Investigations ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
Soon after being sworn in, President Trump issued Executive Orders identifying top administration priorities: combating illegal immigration, drug cartels, and unlawful DEI practices. Taking a similar tack, on her first day in...more
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement activity increased overall in 2024, with a notable uptick in Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement actions compared to 2023, despite a decrease in public Securities and...more
1/31/2025
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trump Administration ,
White Collar Crimes
The imposition of an independent compliance monitor continues to be a favored tool of the government in resolving corporate enforcement matters.
Indeed, in 2022, both the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities...more
Publicly announced Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement activity in 2023 did not return to the levels seen a few years ago, as indicated by both the total number of cases against corporate and individual...more
1/31/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Clawbacks ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Executive Compensation ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
FEPA ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Latin America ,
Mergers ,
Pilot Programs ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Reporting ,
Voluntary Disclosure
On March 3, 2023, as part of the rollout of several updates to its guidance on corporate compliance programs, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a new policy aimed at incentivizing compliance-driven compensation and...more
3/6/2023
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
National Security ,
New Guidance ,
Risk Assessment ,
White Collar Crimes
While Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement activity has not come close to returning to the heights seen a few years ago, 2022 reflected significant increases from the prior year in both the number of cases against...more
2/10/2023
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Criminal Fines ,
Corruption ,
Cross-Border ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
On September 15, 2022, the Department of Justice (Department) released a memorandum revising several key aspects of its corporate criminal enforcement policies. The new policy, titled Further Revisions to Corporate Criminal...more
9/20/2022
/ Compliance ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corporate Monitoring ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Personal Liability ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes
On August 12, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued another decision in a long-running criminal action that holds significant implications for the reach of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)...more
8/31/2022
/ Agents ,
Alstom ,
Anti-Bribery ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Subsidiaries
In 2021, the number of publicly resolved Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) cases was relatively low compared with previous years, but there were numerous interesting developments, and enforcement activity going forward...more
1/28/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Biden Administration ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corruption ,
Cross-Border ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Investigations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
On December 6, 2021, the Biden Administration released the United States Strategy on Countering Corruption (“Strategy”), the first of its kind. This Strategy reaffirms the Biden Administration’s focus on the fight against...more
As was true in many areas of the law, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement in 2020 - and anti-corruption enforcement more generally - was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but perhaps not as much as was initially...more
2/1/2021
/ Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Investigations ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On July 3, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released the second edition of the Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (2020 Guide), the first update to...more
On June 1, 2020, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, Brian A. Benczkowski, announced changes to the U.S. Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (“2020 Guidance”), the...more
Two recent rulings in separate foreign bribery cases highlight the continued impact of individual prosecutions on the interpretation of various provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In United States v....more
3/4/2020
/ Agency Relationship ,
Bribery ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Email ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Indictments ,
Mail Fraud ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Subsidiaries ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wire Fraud
On January 31, 2020, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) agreed to resolve allegations that Airbus SE (“Airbus”), a France-based aerospace company, used third-party business partners to bribe government officials and airline...more
2/5/2020
/ Airbus ,
Bribery ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Criminal Fines ,
Corporate Fines ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Forfeiture ,
France ,
Indictments ,
ITAR ,
Remediation ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
Settlement ,
UK ,
US Department of State ,
Voluntary Disclosure
Enforcement activity reached new heights in 2019. The year saw the two largest corporate resolutions in the history of the FCPA, corporate penalties paid to US enforcement agencies topped last year’s record levels, and...more
1/30/2020
/ Adoption ,
Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Arbitration ,
CFTC ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Civil Forfeiture ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Declination ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ericsson ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Investigations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Pending Litigation ,
Personal Liability ,
Popular ,
Resource Extraction ,
Restitution ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers
On December 6, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to resolve allegations that multinational telecommunications company Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson or...more
12/31/2019
/ Accounting Controls ,
Bribery ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ericsson ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Jurisdiction ,
Meals-Gifts-and Entertainment Rules ,
Popular ,
Remediation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On April 30, 2019, the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, Brian A. Benczkowski, announced an update to the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) 2017 guidance document entitled Evaluation of Corporate Compliance...more
5/10/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Governance ,
Declination ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Ethics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Investigations ,
Mergers ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Assessment ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Training
Despite predictions of a slow-down in enforcement under the Trump administration—and indications that enforcement in some areas has decreased in the past year1—2018 was yet again an active year for FCPA enforcement. The year...more
1/18/2019
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Brazil ,
Bribery ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
China ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Investigations ,
Corruption ,
Credit Suisse ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Declination ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Panasonic ,
Petrobras ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblowers ,
Yates Memorandum
On October 12, 2018 in remarks made at the NYU School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement’s Conference on Achieving Effective Compliance, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice...more
On August 24, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a significant ruling regarding the reach of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) over foreign companies and individuals in United...more
8/30/2018
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Alstom ,
Appeals ,
Bribery ,
Conspiracies ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Popular
On July 2, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission or SEC) settled an enforcement action against Beam Suntory Inc. (Beam), a worldwide beverage maker and distributor, over alleged violations of the Foreign...more