FCPA Scorecard Blog
Articles
"Companies doing business in China caught in a double bind" by Michael Rosenberg
Continuing tensions between the U.S. and China are creating concerns for multinational companies doing business in China. Last June, China enacted the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, designed to counteract “discriminatory restrictive measures employed by foreign nations” against Chinese citizens or...
Buckley Commentary & Analysis"Cross-border internal investigations in Spain" co-authored by Daniel R. Alonso (Anti-Corruption Report)
In recent years, more and more U.S. investigations have touched Spain and various countries within Latin America, in particular Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Loosely speaking, these countries have cultural, language and regional affinities and similarities that make them useful to study...
Articles"New FCPA guide signals laxer successor liability approach" by Paige Ammons and Bree Murphy (Law360)
The U.S. Department of Justice 's and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 's recently updated resource guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act signals a potential relaxation of stringent requirements that have previously been applied to successor liability in mergers and acquisitions...
Articles"How to tackle coronavirus corruption" co-authored by Daniel R. Alonso (Foreign Policy)
Latin America as a region has long had a problem with public corruption, and the coronavirus pandemic has made things worse. As governments shovel public funds to fight the pandemic and its economic fallout, public officials are swindling millions, including in the graft-prone public health sector...
Articles"E-oversight is more important than ever during Covid-19" by Meredith Leeson (Bloomberg Law)
Corporations determined to maintain employee productivity amidst the massive global shift to remote work triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic may not have given as much thought to a critical complication: How to oversee those employees and validate their ongoing compliance with policies, procedures,...
Articles"CARES Act increases oversight and criminal investigations" by Daniel R. Alonso (Bloomberg Law)
The CARES Act will infuse more than $2 trillion into the U.S. economy — the largest such action in history. But if history is any guide, wherever there is a big pot of money, some people will look to steal it. Some desperate individuals might misrepresent their eligibility for unemployment benefits...
Articles"Stronger transatlantic cooperation could be boon for DOJ, ailing U.K. Serious Fraud Office" by Timothy J. Coley (Bloomberg Law)
The Department of Justice has over the past decade collaborated in several high-profile investigations with the Serious Fraud Office, the agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting complex financial crimes in the United Kingdom. Their work in bringing cases related to the Libor and...
Articles"Foreign defendants beware of 'outside the United States' sentencing enhancements" by Paige Ammons
Foreign citizens and companies criminally prosecuted in the United States may face an unwelcome surprise if convicted ─ a higher sentence due solely to the fact that they operated in a foreign country. A little known enhancement in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines governing fraud offenses...
Buckley Commentary & Analysis"Guide to monitorships is essential because of lack of statutes, court precedent" co-authored by Daniel R. Alonso (Law.com)
With some regularity over the past 25 years, government actions against corporate actors have resulted in the imposition of independent monitors. “Monitor” can have multiple meanings, but is usually understood to be an independent third party appointed to ensure compliance with regulatory or court-...
Articles"DOJ corporate enforcement guidelines are placing individual defendants between a rock and a whirlpool" by David S. Krakoff and Bradley A. Marcus (Business Crimes Bulletin)
For companies suspected of wrongdoing, cooperating with Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations and selfdisclosing their misconduct often appears to be their only option to avoid prosecution and reduce large financial penalties. But, these benefits often come at a price, especially to company...
Articles"Only criminals can clean up Argentina’s corruption" co-authored by Daniel R. Alonso (Foreign Policy)
In August, Argentina’s leading newspaper, La Nación , published an explosive report on public corruption. The newspaper obtained notebooks from a former government chauffeur that detailed tens of millions of dollars in bribes the driver delivered over a decade. Bribery was an open secret during the...
Articles"How Clayton’s SEC is likely to view the FCPA" by Daniel R. Alonso (The FCPA Blog)
In the days following President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of his intention to nominate Sullivan & Cromwell partner Jay Clayton as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, countless observers have opined on how the SEC’s priorities may change in the upcoming administration. One...
ArticlesTaking a Deposition Abroad - It's Not Mission Impossible
Imagine that your client, a multi-national enterprise, is the target of an investigation by the US government into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. All of a sudden, plaintiffs' lawyers are circling in federal and state courts, looking to make a civil case out of any alleged...
Articles"Individual and Coordinated Prosecutors Accelerate - Along With The Challenges" by David Krakoff, Lauren Randell, Veena Viswanatha, & Mehul Madia (American Bar Association Criminal Justice Magazine)
For years, federal and state prosecutors have touted their willingness to charge individuals as an essential deterrent to white-collar criminal action, often responding to criticism of prosecutions of corporate entities without any accompanying prosecution of related executives. And for years,...
Articles"Global corruption enforcement becomes focus of U.S. foreign policy" by Daniel R. Alonso (CFO Magazine)
The recent surge in enforcement of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) has now reared its head on Wall Street with an aggressive anti-bribery investigation into several large banks. While this specific inquiry focuses on allegations that banks are giving jobs to relatives of well-...
ArticlesWriting the Facilitating Payments Exception Out of the FCPA
Last summer, a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations against two individuals related to Noble Corporation, a global oil and gas drilling services company, nearly went to trial in federal court in Texas. SEC v...
ArticlesMind Your Flanks: Collateral Litigation Associated with FCPA Actions
When allegations of foreign bribery surface — whether from news reports, a whistleblower submission, or otherwise — companies move aggressively to address the many issues associated with a potential investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and/or the U.S. Securities and Exchange...
ArticlesFCPA: Were the Sting Trials Doomed From the Start?
When the jury in the second Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Sting case trial came back with two acquittals, and hung on three other defendants, the impact of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) ambitious FCPA enforcement efforts was apparent. United States v. Goncalves et al. , No. 09-335 (D.D.C...
ArticlesSeven Steps Companies Can Take to Incentivize Internal Reporting of FCPA Violations
At present, the SEC's Whistleblower Office is receiving about eight whistleblower tips per day, and that number is likely to increase after the first whistleblower is paid. That award is expected shortly. If companies take steps now to enhance their internal reporting policies and procedures, they...
Articles2011 Anti-Corruption Activity in India
James Parkinson authored "2011 Anti-Corruption Activity in India," in The International Lawyer (ABA Section of International Law, 2011 Year-in-Review). This article will be published in Spring 2012.
Articles