Justice Department beefs up foreign corruption Act enforcement.

• Author: Pappalardo, John
• Position: ETHICSCORNER

* In recent years, U.S. government officials have acknowledged the increasing focus on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement. The government has been transparent about its priority to target individuals and companies who make improper payments or offer anything of value to foreign government officials for purposes of obtaining or retaining business.

For U.S. and international businesses and their individual officers, directors and employees, however, such generalized statements about FCPA enforcement priorities take on new significance when put in terms of hard numbers of investigations, fines and convictions.

In 2009, the Department of Justice set a record for numbers indicted and tried for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, yet the enforcement momentum in 2010 has actually escalated. Consider these 2010 milestones:

* Justice imposed the most criminal penalties in FCPA-related cases than any previous 12-month period--well over $1 billion. In 2009 and 2010 combined, the department charged over 50 individuals and collected nearly $2 billion.

* Approximately 35 defendants now await trial on corruption charges in Houston, Miami, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

* Justice ranks have grown to over a dozen attorneys dedicated solely to prosecuting corruption cases.

* The department has deployed sting and undercover operations to reveal suspected FCPA violations, most notably with the high-profile indictment of 22 individuals in the military and law enforcement products industry in early 2010. The indictments resulted from Justice's most extensive use ever of undercover law enforcement techniques in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation, and represent the single largest prosecution in the history of the department's FCPA enforcement efforts.

In front of this backdrop of increased resources and attention, a distinct Foreign Corrupt Practices Act trend is emerging, namely, the internationalization of the enforcement efforts. The unit works not only with other Justice Department divisions, but also with foreign counterparts. This theme will doubtless color the nature of future enforcement.

Internally, Justice's FCPA unit now receives assistance from prosecutors in the department's asset forfeiture and money laundering section. The section recently initiated a new Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative to target and secure proceeds of foreign corruption that have been laundered into or through the United States.

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