FCPAméricas Blog
Stryker Shines Light on Latin American FCPA Risks
10.30.2013
Spanish and Portuguese translations of this article will be posted in the coming days.
On Thursday, the SEC announced a settlement of FCPA violations with Stryker Corporation, making it the latest company penalized in connection with bribes paid in Latin America. This enforcement action highlights certain FCPA risks, and poses questions arising from the relatively light penalty.
Stryker is a publicly listed medical device company headquartered in Michigan, with operations in more than 100 countries. The bribes underlying Stryker’s books and records violations were apparently paid ... Read more
FCPA Meets AML (Part 1: What FCPA compliance officers should know about AML)
10.24.2013
The DOJ is increasingly charging violations of anti-money laundering (AML) laws in conjunction with FCPA violations. This trend appears to have started in 2007 when anti-money laundering violations were charged in the Alcatel, Willbros and Green matters. Since then, violations of AML laws have been charged against numerous individuals in connection with at least eight FCPA matters. This trend seems likely to continue – as noted in the DOJ’s FCPA Resource Guide, “many FCPA cases also involve violations of anti-money laundering statutes.” [ed. FCPAméricas has discussed Brazilian AML laws here.]
What do FCPA complianc... Read more
Perceptions in India: How one short news article speaks volumes about the FCPA
10.22.2013
On August 31th, 2013, The Economic Times of India carried the headline: “Fear of anti-bribery laws slows down M&A deals in India.” This one short article, in the second-most widely read English-language business newspaper in the world, speaks volumes about perceptions and realities of the FCPA in the global economy.
FCPA issues need not end a deal. The article does a good job at showing how FCPA concerns can crater a merger or acquisition and highlights a trend: “[the] frequency of such breakdowns are increasing as investors are afraid of ending up on the wrong side of anti-b... Read more
