We look forward to presenting a webinar titled “FCPA Enforcement Update: Lessons Learned for Best Practices” for the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics alongside V. Channing Landreth, AVP Managing Counsel at Labcorp. We will cover:
The webinar will be held
In the past several years there has been a significant decrease in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement efforts. Reports suggest that corporate criminal cases have decreased by roughly 50% since 2012. FCPA enforcement has dipped particularly dramatically – from more than 40 actions brought by the DOJ and/or SEC in 2019 to only 15 brought by the DOJ and/or SEC in 2021.
Continue Reading FCPA Enforcement Update: Two Big Settlements to End the Year
Since late March, the U.S. government has announced several significant enforcement actions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the main U.S. law that prohibits bribery of non-U.S. government officials.
Often working in coordination with its enforcement counterparts in other parts of the world, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) have resolved three notable matters against companies, and pursued one individual enforcement matter. The alleged bribery involved in these matters occurred in multiple countries in Africa and South America.
Continue Reading Update on FCPA Enforcement: First Half of 2022 Sees Major Enforcement Action
There have been a relatively limited number of U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions in recent years. Nonetheless, two recent announcements (one resolution, one declination) by U.S. regulators underscore the importance of implementing and maintaining effective internal controls.
Continue Reading Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Update: Q1 2022
In recent months, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) have announced several notable penalties for violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FCPA prohibits bribery of foreign government officials and requires issuers of securities on U.S. exchanges to keep and maintain accurate books and records and robust internal controls.
We have summarized a few of these enforcement actions below to serve as a reminder of the various ways in which companies can fall afoul of the FCPA.
In October 2020, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (Goldman Sachs) agreed to a $3.3 billion penalty to resolve allegations that the company and its Malaysian subsidiary violated the FCPA by making payments to a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). This represents the largest-ever FCPA penalty imposed on a company.
The DOJ and SEC alleged that senior employees of Goldman Sachs used a third-party intermediary to bribe high-ranking government officials in Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. The improper payments were allegedly made by Goldman Sachs to assist with efforts to obtain business from 1MDB.
As developments related to COVID-19 continue to unfold, Bass, Berry & Sims attorneys are monitoring the situation and providing guidance through a series of video chats entitled, “COVID-19 Compliance Conversations.”
In this episode, Thad McBride and Lindsey Fetzer provide a brief overview of compliance considerations related to international donations and charitable contributions. Watch the
Despite the sobering news reports on the global spread of COVID-19, companies are
On September 27, 2019, Barclays PLC agreed to pay $6.3 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle charges that Barclays violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The Barclays settlement fits a pattern of recent U.S. government enforcement against companies, particularly in the financial services sector, relating to FCPA violations stemming from hiring or providing internships to relatives and friends of government officials. Penalties have been significant – for example, Credit Suisse Group AG paid a $47 million penalty in 2018 as part of a Justice Department FCPA investigation into their hiring practices in Asia. We previously wrote about this issue in an August 2015 article about a settlement related to the hiring practices of Bank of New York Mellon.
The Barclays matter is a useful reminder of three things:
Continue Reading (Another) Big Bank Pays FCPA Penalty for Hiring Practice
Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) are powerful pre-litigation tools the government frequently utilizes to investigate potential allegations of FCA liability. CIDs can be broad and invasive, time-consuming and expensive. What’s a company to do upon receipt of a CID? Is there any recourse? Unfortunately, neither case law nor published guidance offers the recipient much in the way of a formal, timely mechanism to challenge the scope or appropriateness of a CID. Nevertheless, there are certain practical steps one can take to reduce a CID’s scope that, in turn, will reduce disruption and expenses associated with CID compliance.
Continue Reading The Civil Investigative Demand: An Increasingly Aggressive Investigative Tool and Common-Sense Scope-Reduction Strategies
On September 9, 2015, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ or the Department), Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates issued a memorandum to all U.S. Attorneys regarding individual accountability for corporate wrongdoing (Yates Memo).
The point of the Yates Memo is clear: while DOJ will continue to pursue companies for corporate wrongdoing, the Department will also simultaneously pursue charges against individual employees. According to the Yates Memo, “[b]ecause a corporation only acts through individuals, investigating the conduct of individuals is the most efficient and effective way to determine the facts and extent of any corporate misconduct.”
And the ultimate target of these efforts? Corporate executives. The DOJ understands that lower-level employees facing individual civil or criminal liability are likely to cooperate against their superiors, thereby facilitating DOJ’s ability to obtain information necessary to prosecute individuals further up the corporate ladder.