Unraveling the Patterns of Complexity in Transnational Corporate Bribery

• Published date: 01 December 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10575677231199046
• Author: Fiona Chan,Rachel Boratto,Carole Gibbs,Mark Speers
• Date: 01 December 2024

Unraveling the Patterns of

Complexity in Transnational

Corporate Bribery

Fiona Chan

1

, Rachel Boratto

2

, Carole Gibbs

2

,

and Mark Speers

2

Abstract

Scholarship on white-collar and corporate crime often notes that these crimes are complex due to

their scale, longevity, and hidden, layered, and global nature. Embedded in these discursive descrip-

tions is the assumption that complexity is unidimensional and operates solely in a linear fashion. Yet,

corruption and transnational bribery are the results of a complex system that involves diverse

actors interacting in dynamic environments, which can produce multiple classes of outcomes that

may include different patterns of complexity in crime. In this paper, we empirically explore potential

variability in patterns of complexity in transnational corporate bribery using off‌icial data from cases

prosecuted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States. Our f‌indings indicate that

crime “complexity”can take different forms, suggesting that the relationship between variables can

unfold in dynamic ways. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords

corruption, bribery, transnational crime, corporate crime, foreign corrupt practices act

Introduction

Transnational, white-collar, and corporate crime scholars frequently describe these crimes as

complex, noting that they are committed by networks of people and/or organizations, span signif‌icant

lengths of time, and involve substantial f‌inancial transactions (Calavita et al., 1997; Van Onna et al.,

2014) or multiple criminal acts (Elliott, 2009; van der Watt & van der Westhuizen, 2017). Despite

such frequent references, most studies do not measure or further conceptualize complexity at all.

When measured, a single indicator is typically used and a linear relationship is presumed

(Albonetti, 1998; Galvin & Simpson, 2019; for an exception, see Weisburd et al., 2001), implying

that the complexity of these crimes is unidimensional and operates in a singular fashion.

Complex systems research, on the other hand, recognizes that a single measure cannot capture

complexity and that complex systems can produce “multiple classes of outcomes”(Page, 2015).

1

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

2

Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Fiona Chan, Indiana University, 341 Sycamore Hall, 1033 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.

Email: f‌iochan@iu.edu

Original Article

International Criminal Justice Review

2024, Vol. 34(4) 392-411

© 2023 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10575677231199046

journals.sagepub.com/home/icj

Dynamic and non-linear interactions between diverse entities and their environment result in adap-

tive and evolving outcomes (Pycroft, 2014), which may include different patterns of complexity in

crime beyond linear increases in one variable. Criminologists have applied a systems perspective to

understand other forms of crime (e.g., Pycroft, 2014; Robinson, 2014; van der Watt & van der

Westhuizen, 2017), but the explicit integration of systems thinking in the empirical study of white-

collar crimes has been limited to one aspect of a complex system (i.e., the network structures) impli-

cated in corruption (e.g., Luna-Pla & Nicolás-Carlock, 2020; Slingerland, 2021).

In order to grow our understanding of this important aspect of crime, we must move beyond

mere description to empirical study. As Page (2015) argues in regard to complex systems, we

must move from a “festival of metaphors”(i.e., various discursive characterizations of complex-

ity, like scale and volume) to measurement and exploration of how multiple variables collectively

play a role and capture “part of what is meant by ‘complex’” crimes (i.e., outcomes produced by a

complex system) (Page, 2015: 23). To that end, we begin by examining the complexity of trans-

national corporate bribery. Drawing on systems science, we assume the system that produces

bribery is complex and therefore may produce different classes of outcomes.

1

Thus, we use an

exploratory, data-driven approach to study patterns of complexity in transnational corporate

bribery cases. These cases include enforcement actions against individuals and organizations

by the United States (U.S.) Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Fraud Section between 2011 and

2016 for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977. We draw on descrip-

tions of complexity in the corporate and transnational crime literature and a theoretical framework

of the bribery process (Lord & Levi, 2017) to select multiple measures of complexity. To uncover

potential variation in how complexity manifests in transnational bribery, we used cluster analysis

to group cases based on these measures. We next describe the characteristics of the cases within

each group with descriptive statistics and qualitative examples to illustrate the patterns of com-

plexity in each group.

Empirically identifying and making sense of patterns of complex crimes is important, as it

tests the assumption that complexity is a latent construct that operates in a singular fashion.

Thus, it may provide a new theoretical lens from which to understand crime, potentially shed-

ding light on how system dynamics that are typically obscured may produce different patterns of

crime beyond its presence, absence, or rate. Developing a baseline understanding of this foun-

dational aspect of transnational and white-collar crime will inform efforts to understand the

genesis, severity, and detection and control of white-collar crimes (Benson & Madensen,

2007; Benson et al., 2009; Pontell et al., 2019) and also provide opportunities to compare pat-

terns of complexity across disparate types of crime. To that end, we begin by reviewing how

complexity is described in the transnational, white-collar, and corporate crime literatures and

situate our work within scholarship on bribery.

Literature

Corporate crimes, including bribery and frauds, are often systematically embedded (and hidden)

in legitimate business transactions and structures (Benson & Madensen, 2007; Benson et al., 2009).

Bribery between the private sector and the state, for instance, tends to be well-organized (Lord & van

Wingerde, 2019; Zysman-Quiros, 2019). Recent case studies of transnational corporate bribery also

highlight the use of third parties to provide further cover (Lord et al., 2018), which may include sub-

sidiaries, front companies, shell corporations, or offshore banks and accounts (van Wingerde & Lord,

2019). Thus, the involvement of multiple parties and legitimate and illegitimate (shadow) structures

used to hide or launder criminal proceeds (for an overview, see Huisman, 2019) represent aspects of

the complexity of these crimes. These structures, such as third parties, are often operating in multiple

countries due to the globalization of business (van Wingerde & Lord, 2019).

Chan et al. 393