A Dozen Questions to Ask

• Are you an issuer, US person or US entity?
• Have any foreign agents or subsidiaries?
• Are you a foreign person or company whose transactions touch the US?
• Promised or paid anything of value to a foreign official (governmental, political, NGO) for business purposes?
• Did you or a third party know or suspect it would be passed on to a foreign official?
• Have you consciously disregarded circumstances indicating improper payments occured?
• Do you maintain an adequate system of internal controls?
• Was the payment to facilitate a routine governmental action (grease payment) permitted by the foreign country?
• Do your books fairly reflect the transactions and properly characterize expenditures, such as "entertainment?"
• Have you conducted comprehensive due diligence on your foreign business partner?
• Is your industry historically prone to corruption?
• Are you doing business in a country with a "corrupt" environment?