International Law

Willbros Resolves FCPA Offenses

Posted on May 14, 2008
Willbros Group Inc. has confirmed that it will pay $32.3 million and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement to settle civil and criminal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission...

From The Mailbag

Posted on May 13, 2008
The question our readers most want answered -- after we tell them bloggers have no way to predict Powerball winners -- is, Who's covered by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? It's always the jurisdiction thing -- and for good reason. How, for gosh sakes, does the FCPA reach from Washington to the four corners of the earth and back again? It's unnatural -- until you know how it works...

A Strange Season

Posted on May 12, 2008
The last time it happened, North America was still deep in winter. On February 22nd, Flowserve agreed to appoint a monitor under a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice. Since then, just one corporate FCPA case is known to have settled...

A Modality By Any Other Name

Posted on May 12, 2008
The language of corruption, as of most bad actions, is endlessly inventive. It could even be called picturesque if the subject wasn't the grubby crime of bribery. Like drug dealers who constantly rename their product to keep it attractive, those in the business of corruption do the same...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

FCPA Guilty Plea For Bribing UK Official

Posted on May 09, 2008
A former co-owner and executive of California-based Pacific Consolidated Industries (PCI) pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Martin Eric Self, 51, of Orange, California pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with violating the FCPA by paying more than $70,000 in bribes to a U...

Former ITXC Execs Settle Civil FCPA Charges

Posted on May 07, 2008
The Securities and Exchange Commission said today that on April 18, 2008 it settled civil proceedings under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against Steven J. Ott, Roger Michael Young, and Yaw Osei Amoako. The SEC charged the former executives of ITXC Corp...

The Woolf Report Tells No Tales

Posted on May 06, 2008
The email received 12 hours ago said: You may find this interesting if you haven't seen it already. It's the Woolf Committee Report on BAE, -- released this morning. It's breathtaking in the extent to which they have focused stubbornly on the future and avoided a meaningful review of past conduct...

We Ask, And Answer, A Question

Posted on May 05, 2008
Can an employee be charged with a criminal violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act even if his or her company isn't convicted of an FCPA offense? Yes. An employee can be prosecuted under the FCPA even if the employer hasn't been convicted. But -- and this is why the question is still asked -- the answer hasn't always been yes...

Great Words From The Hill, Circa 1977

Posted on May 04, 2008
Aside from the villa on Lake Como and the Aston Martin in the garage, the greatest perk that comes from tending this garden is hearing from so many talented experts in the field of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Last week, for example, a generous reader shared with us a soon-to-be published paper about Facilitating Payments...

May It Displease The Court

Posted on May 01, 2008
We enjoy a good argument just as much as the next lawyer. Stare decisis, analogy, plain meaning, ambiguity -- bring 'em on. Which is why it took us awhile -- the better part of two decades, but who's counting -- to firmly grasp this simple idea: When it comes to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, forget the fancy lawyer stuff...

Workers Of The World, Comply

Posted on April 29, 2008
Tomorrow is May 1st -- also known as May Day or International Workers' Day -- a public holiday in large parts of the world, including our present location. It's a day to honor workers and their achievements, and to give people a well-timed spring holiday...

Fear And Greed And The FCPA

Posted on April 28, 2008
We've noticed that when prices for energy and other commodities climb, there's more public corruption. Spiking prices, after all, mean fatter margins for producers and proportionately more insecurity for consumers. Meanwhile, middlemen see nothing but opportunities...

Ex-World Bank Manager Sentenced For FCPA Offense

Posted on April 27, 2008
The Justice Department has announced the April 22, 2008 sentencing of former World Bank employee, Ramendra Basu. The Indian national and U.S. permanent resident received 15 months in prison for conspiring to award World Bank contracts to consultants in exchange for kickbacks and for helping a contractor bribe a foreign official in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act...

Boom Times For The FCPA Business

Posted on April 25, 2008
Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein writes in today's paper here about the boom for law firms, accountants, investigators, computer forensics specialists, compliance consultants, conference organizers, "risk mitigators" and others caused by the recent increase in enforcement activity, internal investigations and self-reporting under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act...

U.K. Government Appeals BAE Decision

Posted on April 24, 2008
The U.K. government is appealing the High Court's ruling that the Serious Fraud Office broke the law in shutting down an investigation into BAE's sale of jet fighters to Saudi Arabia. Pending the appeal to the House of Lords, the SFO will not reopen the investigation...

These Opinions Really Matter . . .

Posted on April 23, 2008
When the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act became law in 1977, it ignited suspicions outside Washington that the government was planning a clever ambush, like a central-Florida speed trap, to catch unsuspecting business people and their lawyers in felonious conduct overseas...

A Country That Cannot Change

Posted on April 22, 2008
Russia's English-language Moscow Times carries a provocative page-one story today (here) by Anders Aslund titled, "There Is Nothing Normal About Corruption." Author Aslund is a senior fellow at Washington, D.C.'s Peterson Institute for International Economics and author of "Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed...

The Majesty of the Law

Posted on April 21, 2008
We admit to being stunned. Boggled, bowled over, dumbfounded, floored and flabbergasted (thanks, Roget's). We never expected the British High Court to disturb the U.K.'s somnolent status quo in the fight against international public corruption by ruling that the Serious Fraud Office broke the law in dropping its investigation of BAE...

The Week In Review

Posted on April 17, 2008
Friday's coming just in time. We've used up more than our alloted pixels this week, but it wasn't our fault. There was Jack Grynberg's riveting tell-all complaint against his former big-oil partners, fresh allegations of cover-up or neglect or both in Seimens' internal investigation, and rising outrage at the impotence of the law, courtesy of BAE, Prince Bandar, Mr...

SFO Chief Calls For US-Style Reforms

Posted on April 16, 2008
U.K.-based Ethical Corporation magazine has just released its 2008 anti-corruption special report. The 22-page publication (available on request here) is packed with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance advice, descriptions of best practices from GE and others, and lots of news and analysis about enforcement trends...

All The News That Fits The Prince

Posted on April 15, 2008
Hurrays all around for the British High Court's ruling last week. It said the Serious Fraud Office broke the law last year when, under irresistible pressure from the Blair government, it dropped an investigation into alleged bribes from British defense contractor BAE to Saudi Prince Bandar...

Grynberg v. BP et al

Posted on April 14, 2008
Last week we reported here about the civil suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by Colorado-based oilman Jack Grynberg, 76, against BP, Statoil and British Gas, along with some of their current or former top executives...

At Siemens, Who Knew What?

Posted on April 13, 2008
German news magazine Spiegel posted a story online on April 12, 2008 (here) alleging that Siemens' former chairman Heinrich von Pierer and its executive board members may have been aware of "systematic corruption at the German multinational firm as far back as 2004...

Bribery Allegations Are Aimed At BP

Posted on April 09, 2008
The British press is reporting (here and here) that oil giant BP and its current and former CEOs, Tony Hayward and Lord Browne, as well as Norway's Statoil and its CEO, are among the defendants named in a civil lawsuit involving allegations of bribery of government officials in Kazakhstan...

British High Court Slams Decision To Drop BAE Investigation

Posted on April 09, 2008
The U.K. Guardian reports today (here) that the British High Court has ruled in scathing language that the decision by the Serious Fraud Office to drop an investigation into bribery allegations involving BAE Systems and Saudi Prince Bandar was improper...

The Great Temptation

Posted on April 07, 2008
Some of the most charming and charismatic people in this world are agents ? the middlemen who help foreign companies navigate local waters in return for a slice of revenues, typically around 5%. That may sound like small money, but 5% of $100 million ? a little deal for telecommunications, military hardware or energy projects, for example ? is $5 million...

Ten Fast Facts About The FCPA

Posted on April 02, 2008
It's easy enough to scoff at the slogans, proverbs and aphorisms that line the halls of the great corporations. Who hasn't emerged from a conference-room donnybrook wondering who the Teamwork posters are supposed to be talking about? And yet, THINK helped create an industry and a company to lead it, and Safety First really can save lives...

Why Do We Need (Or Want) The FCPA?

Posted on March 30, 2008
In these pixels, we're fond of quoting A. A. Sommer, Jr. (1924-2002). During his years of public service, his perspective on the markets and their regulation was always influential, and is still worth studying. He was a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1973 to 1976 -- during the lead up to enactment of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act...

Roll Call

Posted on March 27, 2008
It was just two weeks ago that we were waxing about the quiet times for FCPA watchers, due to the temporary bottleneck in the appointments of corporate monitors. But come to think of it, the Department of Justice's Fraud Section, the group in charge of FCPA enforcement, has a lot on its mind right now...

At Alcoa, Who Knew What?

Posted on March 26, 2008
If, as Alba alleges, Alcoa overcharged it under supply contracts by some $2 billion, and some or all of the money went into offshore accounts controlled by Alcoa's agent, who then bribed Alba's personnel and other Bahraini government officials, then the focus of the U...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.