When it comes to FCPA enforcement, the Justice Department’s global focus for many years was on Asian countries, and in particular, China.  This trend, however, has continued, but in the past few years, DOJ has brought a larger percentage of criminal cases against Central and Latin American entities and individuals.  The reason for this focus reflects DOJ’s long-standing and closer working relationships with prosecutors and...

When it comes to FCPA enforcement and expectations, DOJ has moved the goalposts.  Some would argue that DOJ has been consistent all along.  The truth, like most issues, lies somewhere between the extremes.  With lots of fanfare, DOJ implemented a new Corporate Enforcement Program to udnerscore its intent to examine the criminal and civil enforcement history of corporate defendants when considering an appropriate penalty.  This...

Perhaps it is fitting to end this unusual FCPA enforcement year with another in a series of compliance reminders — the quickest way to experience a bribery scandal is to ignore third-party risks.  This has been a continuing theme this year and Freepoint is yet another example of why managing third-party risks is so important to any anti-bribery compliance program. The relevant facts underlying the...

DOJ announced settlements with two U.K.-based reinsurance brokers, H.W. Wood Limited (“Wood”) and Tysers Insurance Brokers (“Tysers”) for their participation in a bribery scheme involving Seguros Sucre S.A. (“Sucre”) and Seguros Rocafuerte S.A. (“Rocafuerte”), two state-owned insurance companies in Ecuador.  Wood and Tysers each entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ and agreed to the filing of a criminal information in the Southern...

By MICHAEL VOLKOV, NOVEMBER 27, 2023 DOJ announced two recent FCPA settlements with U.K. based reinsurance brokers involving a long-running bribery scheme involving two Ecuadoran state-owned insurance companies.  While DOJ has had a slow year in FCPA enforcement, DOJ is probably likely to announce additional FCPA settlements by the close of the year.  In its most recent announcement, DOJ announced settlements with two U.K.-based reinsurance...

The Justice Department has brought three corporate FCPA enforcement actions in 2023 (if you include the Ericsson DPA breach settlement).  With its recent announcement of a declination under the Corporate Enforcement Policy, DOJ has declined two FCPA cases and one healthcare fraud case in 2023. DOJ publicizes the declination letters issued in accordance with the Corporate Enforcement Policy.  DOJ officials have made numerous public statements...

The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to rack up FCPA enforcement actions.  In its latest settlement, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings agreed to pay $26.1 million for bribery violations committed by its former Chinese subsidiary.  According to Clear Channel, the Department of Justice closed its FCPA investigation.  Clear Channel, a San Antonio-based advertising company, paid bribes to Chinese government officials with cash, gift cards, first-class travel,...

Daniela Melendez, an Associate at The Volkov Law Group, an Alex Cotoia, Regulatory Manager at The Volkov Law Group, rejoin us for another posting on DOJ’s recent modifications to its compliance requirements. Daniela can be reached at [email protected] and Alex can be reached at [email protected]. As The Volkov Law Group previously noted in the context of a blog post authored by Michael Volkov,  the U.S....

Albemarle Corporation (Albemarle), a specialty chemicals manufacturing company located in Charlotte, North Carolina, agreed to pay more than $218 million to settle FCPA investigations with DOJ and the SEC stemming from bribery payments in Vietnam, Indonesia and India. Albemarle entered into a three-year non-prosecution agreement (“NPA”) with DOJ and agreed to pay a penalty of approximately $98.2 million and an administrative forfeiture of approximately $98.5...

The SEC is having a good year in prosecuting FCPA cases.  The SEC’s recent settlement with 3M Corp. for $6.5 million is its seventh corporate resolution for the year.  DOJ, which has been relatively quiet so far this year, recently resolved the Corficocolombiana case, its first for the year. 3M’s conduct centered on payments for Chinese healthcare officials employed by state-owned enterprises to attend overseas...