FCPA Resource Guide

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By: Scott Maberry and Mark Jensen

One FCPA compliance topic we are often asked about by clients is how government investigations start. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have developed a number of mechanisms largely within their control (including whistleblowers and cross-industry investigations) to learn about bribery allegations.  There are also mechanisms outside of government control, such as investigative journalism, that can identify bribery allegations and effectively force the government’s hand into investigating them.  Recent events surrounding FCPA allegations against International Business Machines Corporation (“IBM”) suggest a new actor that can force the broadening or deepening of existing FCPA investigations: the U.S. courts.
Continue Reading A Rising Voice on FCPA Compliance: The Court

By: Thad McBride and Cheryl Palmeri

A New York federal district court judge has dismissed a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) claim against a former executive of Siemens, S.A. Argentina and Siemens Transportation Systems for lack of personal jurisdiction.  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought the civil FCPA enforcement action against Herbert Steffen for his role in an alleged scheme by which Siemens paid bribes to top government officials in Argentina to secure a project to create national identity cards.…
Continue Reading Line in the Sand: Siemens Argentina Case Limits Personal Jurisdiction Under the FCPA

By: Matthew Riemer and Mark Jensen

On December 17, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced a settlement under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) with Allianz SE (“Allianz”), the insurance company based in Germany, resulting in $5.3 million in civil penalties and more than $7 million in disgorgement and interest.  The settlement stemmed from a two-year investigation into allegations that an Allianz subsidiary paid bribes to government officials in Indonesia over a seven-year period and violated the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls provisions.  The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) started its own investigation into potential criminal liability for Allianz, but closed its case in 2011 with a declination letter, an event that was reported in the Wall Street Journal. …
Continue Reading No Knowledge, but Hints of Omissions in the Allianz FCPA Settlement

By: Scott Maberry, Thad McBride, and Cheryl Palmeri

Much has been said about what is missing from the new FCPA Resource Guide (the Guide) published by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), linked here.  Here, we consider instead the areas in which – true to its name – the Guide offers some helpful guidance.  Specifically, based on our experience of representing companies and individuals before the DOJ and SEC, this article describes four areas in which the Guide taught us something new or called into question what we thought we knew about the FCPA.
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Continue Reading What’s In the New FCPA Resource Guide: Some Welcome Clarity and Unexpected Muddling

By: Mark Jensen

Notwithstanding our overall approval of the FCPA Resource Guide (the Guide) issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this month, we are certainly not above a bit of criticism.

To that end, those who have investigated and settled FCPA cases after choosing to cooperate with the government will be familiar with the instruction to do “homework” following a meeting.  The direction generally requires a deeper dive into specific facts or issues identified by the DOJ and/or SEC.  While directed by the government, the homework instruction nonetheless allows the investigation target a lot of leeway about how to get the homework done.

The same approach infuses the Guide.…
Continue Reading What’s Not in the New FCPA Resource Guide, or Why Doing Your FCPA Homework is Still a Good Idea