Compliance Stuff

New guidelines governing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations and enforcement e ffectively signal the official end of the proclaimed FCPA enforcement pause announced by President Trump earlier in the year, while marking the start of many new priority areas of FCPA enforcement. The  guidelines , issued June 9 by Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Todd Blanche, follow the direction of the Trump administration’s laser sharp focus on the “total elimination” of cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and build upon the priorities spelled out in Attorney General Pamela Bondi’s memorandum issued in February. That memo, in part, directed FCPA Unit prosecutors in the DOJ’s Criminal Division to prioritize investigations relating to foreign bribery connected to the criminal operations of cartels and TCOs and to shift focus away from cases that don’t have such a connection. Separately,  Executive Order 14209  directed the DOJ to cease initiation of any new ...

  On June 10, the head of the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division, Matthew R. Galeotti, gave a speech before the American Conference Institute (ACI) outlining the DOJ’s white-collar enforcement priorities. Galeotti’s remarks follow the DOJ’s recent revisions to the Criminal Division Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP).   Read our previous alert about the CEP  here .   Galeotti emphasized that if defense counsel representing companies under investigation “do the right thing, report potential crimes, root out misconduct, cooperate with the [DOJ], and help the company remediate ,” then the company will receive “significant benefits.” He highlighted three key points: Companies that “voluntarily self-report, cooperate, and remediate” fraud and other white-collar offenses will receive a declination — not just a “presumption” of declination — unless there are aggravating factors . Galeotti said that he would personally scrutinize ...