Are Sovereign Wealth Funds State-Owned Enterprises?

Steve Tyrrell, Chief of the Fraud Section in DOJ’s Criminal Division, has observed that the DOJ may treat employees of sovereign wealth funds as government officials for purposes of the FCPA

Sovereign wealth funds have been playing a larger role in the domestic securities markets as companies search for increasingly scarce supplies of capital. Mr. Tyrrell was quoted: “recent boom of sovereign wealth funds is an area at the top of the Justice Department’s hit list.”

Mr. Tyrell told Financial Week that “the DOJ was looking at both passive and active investments by U.S. securities firms into sovereign funds, and vice versa.” [Cash crunch could result in more corruption cases. October 7, 2008]

At a recent Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference, Mr. Tyrell indicated that securities firms should treat employees of sovereign wealth funds as government officials for purposes of the FCPA.