FCPAméricas Blog
Appearance of Impropriety: The Failure to Compensate FCPA Victims Creates Bad Optics
12.24.2013
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of FCPA settlements is the price tag. The largest FCPA settlement so far this year was for $398 million, paid by the French oil company Total. This is big money – enough to get the attention of even the largest multinational companies. But as a Brazilian friend recently asked me: where does all that money go?
The answer is straightforward: all criminal fines, civil penalties and disgorged profits from FCPA enforcement actions go into the U.S. Treasury. But is that fair, considering that the most apparent victims of bribes paid to foreign officials are the citizens of foreign countries?
Little Restitution for FCPA Victims Read more
Anti-Corruption Laws in Chile: Three things companies should know
12.19.2013
There has been considerable discussion over the last few years about anti-corruption developments in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia – four of the five Latin American parties to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. FCPAméricas has discussed each country at length (see posts on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia... Read more
What to Expect from the Upcoming Regulation of Brazil’s New Anti-Bribery Law
12.17.2013
In August this year, Brazil passed a new Anti-Bribery Law (an unofficial translation of the law into English is available here), which will come into force on January 29, 2014 (and does not apply retroactively), holding legal entities civilly and administratively liable for bribery of local and foreign officials. The law also prohibits fraud in public procurement, bid rigging, and other illegal acts.
The Anti-Bribery Law gives credit to companies that have compliance programs in place and requires the Federal Government to issue a regulation on compliance programs. The Office of the Federal Comptroll... Read more
