The Department of Justice’s updated guidelines for investigations and enforcement under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act put to rest notions that the law will lie dormant for the foreseeable future.
The DOJ’s revised approach will focus on a more targeted and strategic use of investigative and enforcement resources, prioritizing holding particular individuals accountable and for corrupt conduct that harms US economic interests.
There are good reasons to commend this approach as more effectively incentivizing compliance and protecting US interests. Yet, by further deprioritizing the pursuit of criminal charges against the legal edifice of the “corporation,” the DOJ’s new approach bucks the international trend away from punishing individuals and toward punishing companies.
That may not be a bad thing.
Read more on Bloomberg Law
