This post comes to us from Martin Weinstein, partner in the Litigation Department of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and leader of the Compliance & Enforcement Practice Group, and is based on a Willkie client memorandum by Mr. Weinstein, Robert J. Meyer, and Jeffrey D. Clark.
Although enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) has been trending upward for several years, the first quarter of 2010 saw unprecedented developments in the enforcement of the statute. In the first three months of 2010 alone, the U.S. government brought or resolved FCPA charges against thirty-six companies and individuals — thirty more than in the first quarter of 2009 and thirty-two more than in the first quarter of 2008. The U.S. Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) settled five cases against corporations, including two settlements of long-term investigations of major non-U.S. corporations, BAE Systems plc and Daimler AG, involving hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and penalties. The DOJ also unveiled a multi-year FCPA undercover investigation with the simultaneous indictment and arrest of twenty-two individuals who allegedly agreed to pay bribes overseas while dealing with an undercover FBI agent and a cooperating witness.