The Department of Justice released its latest Opinion Procedure Release under the FCPA: 09-01 The Requestor designs and manufactures a specific type of medical device. The Requestor’s competitors already operate and sell their products to the government of a certain foreign country and the Requestor wants to enter that market. A senior government official laid [...]
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Jefferson Case Will be Remembered for Cash in the Freezer
Former Congressman William Jefferson’s corruption trial will always be remembered as the one about the guy with the cash in his freezer. But Jefferson was acquitted of Count 11, violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This was the primary crime related to the stash of $100 bills the FBI found between boxes of Boca [...]
Jefferson Convicted of Corruption Charges
William Jefferson, the former nine-term congressman from Louisiana, was found guilty of 11 of 16 corruption charges on Wednesday by a federal jury. The Jefferson case was most famous for the discovery of $90,000 of cash stuffed in his freezer. Prosecutors said Jefferson planned to use the cash for a bribe. Jefferson’s lawyers said the [...]
Hollywood and the FCPA
With the guilty verdict in the case of handbag magnate Frederic Bourke and while waiting for the verdict in the Jefferson corruption case, we can turn to Hollywood for the next FCPA trial. The U.S. Attorney’s office charged a Hollywood producer with paying bribes to a foreign official. Gerald and Patricia Green are accused of [...]
Avery Dennison Settles SEC Case for China FCPA Violation
Avery Dennison has settled two related Securities and Exchange Commission cases over alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. In an administrative action, the SEC imposed a cease-and-desist order against the consumer product company and ordered it to pay $318,470 in disgorgement and interest. In a civil case, Avery agreed to pay a $200,000 penalty. Avery [...]
Sticking Your Head in the Sand and the FCPA
Prosecutors told the jury during Frederic Bourke’s trial that instead of doing adequate due diligence for his investment, he’d “stuck his head in the sand.” A jury convicted him conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and making false statements to federal investigators. How did the head of a prominent handbag company end up in [...]
FCPA Visualization
The number of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges and the size of the penalties have surged recently. The James Mintz Group pinpointed the location of every bribe that has led to an FCPA case in the last 10 years and illustrated them graphically. The countries that have generated the most FCPA cases in the last [...]
Vetting Business Partners
My notes, live, from Vetting Business Partners, with Alexandra Wrage of Trace International to talk about how leading companies have approached this challenge in a global company. Due diligence on business partners is one of the most important things a company can do, but also one of the least interesting things. She points out that [...]
FCPA and the Wall Street Journal
Not since the Siemens FCPA case have I seen the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act show up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. That case was highlighted because of billion dollar fine. The big part of today’s story was the number of active FCPA cases. According to the story there are at least [...]
Proclamation 7750, Diplomatic Immunity and Corruption
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act only applies to those making bribes. It does not apply to the recipients of bribes. Since the recipient must be a “foreign official” you run into the issue of “diplomatic immunity.” The concept is that officials should only be held accountable to the laws in their home state. We would [...]
