U.S. agencies’ enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is off to a “slow start” this year, although announcements could “accelerate through the year,” Miller & Chevalier said in its spring 2023 review of FCPA developments. The firm noted that companies are “continuing to evaluate questions” arising from recent DOJ policy changes affecting FCPA compliance, including when to disclose violations, how to manage employees’ use of personal devices and how much cooperation with the agency is required to minimize potential penalties (see 2301190031, 2303030056 and 2304050081). The firm noted DOJ officials have said “further guidance on how these policies will apply in specific facts and circumstances will come from the announcement of future dispositions.”
Cary Yan, former president of a New York-based non-governmental organization, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for paying bribes to Marshall Islands officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. Yan conspired with his assistant, Gina Zhou, as part of a bribery scheme to pass legislation that would benefit Yan's business interests. Zhou was sentenced in February to two years and seven months in prison.
Caitrin McKiernan, former attorney with Shearman & Sterling, joined Steptoe & Johnson's Hong Kong and New York offices as a partner in its Investigations and White-Collar Defense Practice. McKiernan's practice will center on "multijurisdictional compliance reviews and internal investigations, crafting compliance policies, providing proactive compliance counseling, and leading interactive compliance training," the firm said. McKiernan also will aid companies seeking to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, economic sanctions and export controls, the firm said.
Amsterdam-based multinational conglomerate Koninklijke Philips will pay more than $62 million to settle charges it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related to its sales of medical diagnostic equipment in China, the SEC announced. Without admitting guilt, Philips agreed to pay $15 million in civil penalties and over $47 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York should toss the U.S. claim that FTX crypto-exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's anti-bribery provision since the government failed to allege an essential element of the FCPA, Bankman-Fried said in a motion to dismiss. The U.S. said payments were made to unfreeze assets belonging to cryptocurrency firm Alameda Research but didn't say payments were made to "secure or retain a contract with a foreign government agency, gain an unfair advantage, or achieve an objective of the sort addressed in the FCPA’s text or legislative history or in relevant caselaw" (U.S. v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, S.D.N.Y. # 22-00673).
A U.S.-based multinational medical device company said it may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In a May 2 SEC filing, Stryker said it has hired outside counsel to investigate whether “certain business activities in a foreign country violated provisions” of the FCPA, adding that both the SEC and DOJ have contacted it. The company said it’s cooperating with both agencies. “At this time we are unable to predict the outcome of the investigation or the potential impact, if any, on our financial statements,” Stryker said.
Holland & Knight added 17 attorneys -- seven partners, two senior counsel and eight associates -- from Mexican law firm Sanchez DeVanny to its Mexico City and Monterrey offices. The new lawyers primarily focus on international trade and corporate law issues, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Holland & Knight said.
Covington & Burling recently released a Chinese language version of DOJ’s revised Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs. The translated document, posted by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Blog, includes DOJ’s March update that introduced changes to how it assesses corporate compliance programs’ approach to communications platforms (see 2303030056, 2304050081 and 2304240019).
Compliance departments are “well-poised to handle” DOJ’s recently revised policies for how it assesses corporate compliance programs’ approach to communications platforms (see 2303030056), and “it’s totally within their competency and wheelhouse to do so,” said Julie DiMauro, a compliance professional with Global Relay, which helps businesses supervise and report communications intelligence. DiMauro rebutted comments from a former DOJ official who said this month that the new policies are “virtually unenforceable” (see 2304050081).
Claudia Patricia Diaz Guillen, Venezuela's former national treasurer, and her husband, Adrian Jose Velasquez, each were sentenced to 15 years in prison for their roles in a bribery and money-laundering scheme in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced April 19. The duo accepted and laundered over $136 million in bribes from Venezuelan billionaire and Globovision news network owner Raul Gorrin Belisario in exchange for access to purchase bonds from the Venezuela National Treasury at a favorable exchange rate.