The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) quietly released updated guidance on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) before the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Entitled A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Second Edition[1] (“Guide”), the Guide is the first update to the original document published … Continue Reading
The Second Circuit’s recent decision in United States v. Hoskins may impact enforcement of U.S. economic sanctions programs. The Hoskins decision precludes the government from charging a foreign national acting abroad with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) through theories of conspiracy and accomplice liability. This holding is equally applicable to U.S. sanctions law.… Continue Reading
In remarks at NYU’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, Steven Peikin, the new Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, voiced a question that has been on the minds of many anticorruption practitioners and compliance professionals: Will the SEC continue to be committed to robust FCPA enforcement?” “My answer to that question is simple,” Peikin … Continue Reading
In an effort to enhance its ability to investigate and prosecute Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) cases, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division has launched a new one-year FCPA pilot program effective April 5, 2016. The program has three main goals: Motivate companies to voluntarily self-disclose FCPA-related misconduct Motivate companies to fully cooperate with … Continue Reading
On July 17, 2012, Nordam Group, Inc. (“Nordam”) an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (“MRO”) service provider based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, entered into a three-year non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the DOJ to resolve violations of the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions. Conduct According to the NPA, from 1999 until 2008, Nordam, its subsidiaries and affiliates paid bribes … Continue Reading
Orthofix International N.V. (“Orthofix”) entered into a consent to final judgment with the SEC and a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ to resolve FCPA violations by its Mexican subsidiary. Although the DOJ enforcement action involved a criminal information which remains sealed until a plea is entered in open court, the deferred prosecution agreement indicates … Continue Reading
The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have stressed the need for companies to conduct FCPA due diligence before entering into transactions with third parties or buying another company. The DOJ and SEC have levied stiff fines on companies that have not heeded their advice once violations of the FCPA have been discovered. … Continue Reading
Paul Cosgrove, the former head of worldwide sales at California-based valve manufacturer Control Components Inc. (CCI) pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Cosgrove is the fourth of six company executives to plead guilty to violating or conspiring to violate the FCPA. Cosgrove was previously scheduled to stand trial on June … Continue Reading
As discussed in a previous blog post, the DOJ has been prosecuting multiple individuals in the Haiti Teleco corruption scheme. On May 21, 2012 Jean Rene Duperval was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the scheme to launder bribes paid to him by two Miami-based telecommunications companies. Duperval was also ordered … Continue Reading
On February 21, 2012 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) sent a letter to the DOJ requesting guidance on “several issues and questions of significant concern to businesses seeking in good faith to comply with the FCPA.” The ILR raised the following issues: “Instrumentalities”: The ILR sought clarification on what types of … Continue Reading
Conduct Following the close of the prosecution’s case on a trial for charges arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), John Joseph O’Shea (“O’Shea”) was acquitted of all substantive FCPA counts, with the court (Southern District of Texas) finding that O’Shea’s conduct could be reasonably explained by lawful motives. O’Shea, a former general manager … Continue Reading
2011 was another banner year for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiating 23 and 25 enforcement actions, respectively, and collecting nearly $355 million and $148 million in fines. Numerous individual defendants were prosecuted under the FCPA, some successfully, and some not … Continue Reading
Magyar Telekom Plc and its majority owner Deutsche Telekom AG have agreed to pay a total of approximately $95 million in penalties arising from alleged violations of the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) stemming from conduct in Macedonia and Montenegro. Conduct Between 2005 and 2006, former executives … Continue Reading
On October 14, 2011, the DOJ dismissed bribery charges against Si Chan Wooh, the former Executive Vice President and head of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc.’s (“Schnitzer Steel”) Tacoma, Washington based subsidiary SSI International which oversaw Schnitzer Steel’s South Korean subsidiary, SSI Korea. Back in 2007, Wooh previously entered into a cooperation agreement with the DOJ … Continue Reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has issued an administrative cease and desist order as to Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (“Watts”), a water valve designer and retailer, and Leesen Chang (“Chang”), former general manager of Watts Valve Changsha Co., a wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary of Watts. Conduct Between 2006 and 2009, Chang, on behalf of Watts’s … Continue Reading
Comverse Technologies Inc. (CTI), a New York based provider of software for communication and billing services, resolved Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions brought by the DOJ and SEC arising out of the acts of an indirectly owned overseas subsidiary and the subsidiary’s third party agent. CTI resolved the DOJ investigation via an NPA, … Continue Reading
In a sign of things to come, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and J&J wholly-owned subsidiaries Depuy, Inc. (DePuy) and DePuy International Limited (DePuy International) resolved corruption related investigations on both sides of the Atlantic on Friday, April 8. Conduct J&J, a New Jersey based issuer, resolved FCPA enforcement actions brought by the DOJ and SEC … Continue Reading
With the last member of the infamous TSKJ joint-venture resolving FCPA charges this week, has the DOJ finally closed the door on its very lucrative Bonny Island investigation? JGC, a Japanese company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, resolved an FCPA enforcement action brought by the DOJ concerning JGC’s participation in the Bonny Island, Nigeria, bribery scheme. … Continue Reading
Squire Sanders‘ James Barresi writes that in April, the Securities and Exchange Commission plans to issue new regulations requiring companies to disclose whether their production utilizes “conflict minerals” from the Congo or an adjoining country. The SEC’s new rules may prove to be a headache for companies that use small amounts of conflict minerals and … Continue Reading
Marina Ushakova, of Squire Sander’s Moscow office, and Ritchie Thomas, of Squire Sander’s Washington, D.C. office, have the following to say about recent anticorruption developments in Russia: Russia is on the threshold of a drastic change in the design of its system of penalties for bribery, both on the supply side and on the demand … Continue Reading
In a recent post we analyzed the comments of Charles Duross, Deputy Chief, Fraud Section, Criminal Division, DOJ, at the ABA White Collar Crime annual conference. Today, we will summarize the comments of Duross’ fellow panelists — Robert Tarun, Mark Mendelsohn and Raphael Monty — all three of whom are in private practice. Tarun stated: … Continue Reading
With these words Charles Duross, Deputy Chief, Fraud Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice – the country’s lead criminal prosecutor of FCPA – so began his comments at the recent American Bar Association White Collar Crime annual conference in San Diego, California. Duross characterized 2010 as “transformative” for the following reasons: Fraud Section Changes. Duross … Continue Reading
To date, the SEC has never charged a private equity firm for the inappropriate conduct of one of its portfolio companies (the DOJ has been involved in a few investigations: see Vetco International Ltd.; Omega Advisors; and, Leo Winston Smith). However, with recent news of both internal and external bribery-related investigations into Allianz Capital Partners … Continue Reading
Recently, we wrote about the 2010 enforcement environment. Today’s post looks forward to 2011 and some things to keep an eye out for in the coming year. Without further ado: Prosecutions of Individuals. In 2010 we saw a significant number of individuals prosecuted for FCPA and related violations. A number of defendants resolved their prosecutions … Continue Reading
