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By Bethany Hengsbach

On March 30, 2011, the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) Ministry of Justice (“MOJ”) issued its long-awaited guidance on the U.K. Bribery Act (the “Guidance”), the U.K.’s answer to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and domestic bribery laws.  The implementation of the U.K. Bribery Act (the “Act”) has been delayed twice, but now will take place on July 1, 2011. Thus, the time has come for companies to assess their anti-corruption compliance programs and make adjustments to ensure that they address the nuances of the Act.
 Continue Reading The Ministry of Justice Issues Long-Awaited Guidance On The U.K. Bribery Act

By John M. Hynes

Companies doing business in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) have yet another path to potential criminal liability. On February 25, 2011, the PRC legislature passed 49 amendments to the PRC Criminal Law. One such amendment – Amendment No. 8 of the PRC Criminal Law – criminalizes the payment of bribes to non-PRC government officials and to international public organizations (the “Amendment”). While the Amendment is brand new and no interpretive guidance has been issued, it appears to be the PRC’s version of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”).
 Continue Reading China Beefs Up Its Anti-Bribery Law With Its Very Own Version Of The FCPA

By Bethany Hengsbach and Anthony Moshirnia

Through enforcement, administrative action, and new legislation, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) grew additional muscle and even sharper teeth in 2010.  The U.S. government assessed nearly $2 billion in FCPA-related penalties and fines in 2010, and announced eight of the top ten FCPA settlements of all time.
 Continue Reading 2010 FCPA Year In Review

By Bethany Hengsbach

Primarily as a result of the recent dramatic increase in the U.S. government’s enforcement effort, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) has received a great deal of attention of late. The financial reform legislation signed by President Obama on July 21, 2010 adds an incentive that will likely further increase the dangers posed to companies and individuals by the FCPA. The law contains a provision that will reward whistleblowers who voluntarily provide information leading to the successful enforcement of U.S. securities laws, including the FCPA, with between 10% and 30% of any recovery over $1,000,000. The whistleblower must provide “original” information, not already known to the SEC and not merely derived from existing investigations, audits, or reports. The SEC will have discretion to set the amount within the 10% – 30% range, based on the significance of the information to the success of the action, the whistleblower’s degree of assistance, and the interest of the SEC in using whistleblower payments to deter problematic conduct in the future. The provision also extends the reward to “related actions” taken by other prosecuting agencies based on the reported information, and thus will apply to actions initiated by the DOJ and other federal, state, and foreign law enforcement agencies. 
 Continue Reading Whistleblower Provision Likely To Increase FCPA Risk

By Neil Ray

The U.K. Bribery Act 2010 (the “Act”) represents a fundamental reform of the U.K. anti-bribery regime and greatly expands the potential legal exposure of companies and individuals that do business, including practice of a trade or profession, in the U.K. For example, it criminalizes purely private bribery with no involvement of a government official and creates a new corporate offence of “failing to prevent” bribery. These offences are subject to unlimited fines and a 10-year maximum prison sentence for individuals. The Act bears some similarity to its U.S. counter-part, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), but is in general stricter and broader. Accordingly, companies with business operations in the U.K. must not assume that even robust FCPA compliance programs will assure compliance with the requirements of the Act.
 Continue Reading The Long Arm Of The Crown: New U.K. Anti-Bribery Law Reaches Private Sector Bribery And Creates Offence Of “Failing To Prevent” Bribery

By Bethany Hengsbach

An often-overlooked provision in the financial reform legislation now before Congress would allow employee whistleblowers to receive a reward of up to 30% of the fines collected by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) from corporations who violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). We have reported in this blog on several occasions the increase in FCPA enforcement by the government in recent years. The passage of a bill containing this proposed whistleblower provision could lead to even more government enforcement, as well as multi-million dollar awards to whistleblowers.
 Continue Reading Proposed Whistleblower Provision Could Dramatically Increase FCPA Risk

The recent explosion in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") enforcement has made headlines of late, with three articles in the Wall Street Journal alone during the week of April 12th. Numerous multi-million dollar settlements and indictments of individuals demonstrate that no company with any international presence is beyond the reach of the statute.
 Continue Reading Sheppard Mullin to Host FCPA Seminar

2010 is promising to be a banner year for enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). In mid-January of this year, the DOJ unsealed sixteen indictments charging twenty-two individuals with violations of the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions. A few weeks later, in early February, British defense industry giant, BAE Systems plc ("BAE"), announced that it would plead guilty to one charge of conspiring to make false statements to the U.S. Government regarding its ongoing compliance with the FCPA. In connection with its guilty plea, BAE also agreed to pay a $400 million penalty. Notably, the DOJ did not allege that BAE violated the FCPA or that BAE executives willfully looked the other way while their agents or subordinates violated the Act. Instead, the crux of the DOJ’s case appears to be that BAE failed to install a compliance system capable of detecting FCPA violations in the first place.
 Continue Reading A New Approach To FCPA Enforcement – Can The FCA Be Far Behind?

Recent trends demonstrate that virtually every industry is vulnerable to potential liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and global Anti-Bribery Conventions. Moreover, regulators are increasingly conducting both industry-wide reviews and global investigations of targeted organizations. The recent indictments of twenty-two individuals in the military equipment industry demonstrate that, regardless of size, any company involved in international commerce is now a potential target.
 Continue Reading FCPA WORKSHOP