Foreign Corrupt Practices Act News

By now, FCPA aficionados have had a chance to digest last year’s enforcement numbers. The undeniable fact is that fines levied by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission were down in 2012, way down, actually. But what that means exactly is less clear.

New Year, new Congress, new . . . Foreign Corrupt Practices Act reform efforts? Well, now that we’ve all had a chance to digest the recent government guidance on antibribery enforcement, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research has added to calls for legislative reform of the 1977 statute. 

A Taiwanese man filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday against Siemens, arguing he was fired for raising corruption concerns to senior executives while working as a regional compliance officer in China.

A company never wants to find itself embroiled in simultaneous criminal and Congressional investigations, as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has recently. But if it does, what’s the game plan?

Farm equipment manufacturer Deere & Co. said Thursday the Securities and Exchange Commission has ended a bribery investigation of the company without taking action.

In recent years, seizures have crept into the foreign bribery realm — for instance in the prosecution of Lindsey Manufacturing Co., which had a limited restraining order put on assets early on — with repercussions that can have a big impact on the company’s operations and banks that lend it money.

The final numbers are in: The Justice Department secured $142.2 million in criminal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act fines and penalties in 2012.

SEC Payouts for Tips, Foreign-Bribery Law, Patent Suits Top List of Concerns.