The Justice Department is encouraging companies to voluntarily disclose criminal violations — “Come in and confess” and DOJ offers promises of a declination. But even a declination comes with a requirement — the company has to pay disgorgement. DOJ has done everything it can do to incentivize voluntary disclosures — many companies are balancing the pros and cons and often deciding NOT to disclose. Such...
The Justice Department continues its enforcement “silence” with no major corporate prosecutions announced this year. It is an interesting question but it appears that the wheels have ground to a halt, with one major exception – prosecutors are bringing cases against individuals. Inside the Justice Department corporate criminal FCPA enforcement has been held up. For FCPA practitioners and commentators, that leaves individual cases and corporate...
On November 26, 2017, the Justice Department announced adoption of its new FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the new policy at an FCPA Conference in Washington, D.C. Under the new policy, corporations that voluntarily disclose potential FCPA violations, fully cooperate with the investigation and implement timely and appropriate remediation will earn a presumptive declination, subject to the absence of aggravating...
The Justice Department’s new FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy has altered the balance between disclosure and non-disclosure of FCPA violations. How is that for a profound grasp of the obvious? All kidding aside, the question is how much has the balance been changed? I am not sure there will be a significant increase in the number of companies deciding to seek the benefits under the new...
