Previous posts have focused on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions concerning conduct (in whole or in part) in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan.
This post highlights other FCPA enforcement actions concerning conduct (in whole or in part) in other Central Asia countries.
Turkmenistan
The enforcement action concerned conduct in Nigeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan.
As to Turkmenistan, the allegations were: ““Between in or around 2002 and in or around 2009, Panalpina Turkmenistan paid over $500,000 in cash bribes to: (i) Turkmen government officials responsible for assessing and collecting duties and tariffs on imported goods in order to expedite the release of shipments and undocumented shipments and to circumvent the official Turkmen customs and immigration regulations; (ii) Turkmen government officials responsible for auditing, assessing, and collecting taxes on economic activity in Turkmenistan to minimize the duration of audits and investigations and to reduce proposed fines; and (iii) Turkmen govermnent officials responsible for enforcing Turkmenistan labor, health, and safcty laws, including through the use of audits and inspections, to minimize the duration of audits and investigations and to reduce the proposed fines.”
This post highlights FCPA enforcement actions concerning conduct (in whole or in part) in South Korea, North Korea and Japan.
The enforcement action concerned conduct in South Korea and Vietnam.
As to South Korea, the allegations were: “From at least 2009 through 2017, high-level executives of KT maintained slush funds, comprised of both off-the-books accounts and physical stashes of cash, in order to provide items of value to government officials, among others. These included gifts, entertainment and, ultimately, illegal political contributions to members of the Korean National Assembly serving on committees relevant to KT’s business.” “Between 2015 and 2016, KT made payments of over $1.6 million to three organizations at the request of high-level government officials. KT paid $972,616 to Foundation A, described as a foundation for the promotion of Korean culture, and $603,791 to Foundation B, described as a foundation for the promotion of sports. A close associate of a senior Korean government official set up both foundations, and the payments were made at the behest of the Blue House, Korea’s presidential residence and office. The third payment, of $88,420 to another organization, Association C concerning e-Sports, was solicited by a member of Korea’s National Assembly who served on legislative committees important to KT’s business. All of these payments were booked incorrectly, either as charitable donations or as a sponsorship.”
As highlighted here, in September 2020 the DOJ announced that Javier Aguilar (a former employee of Vitol Inc.) was criminally charged for “his alleged participation in a five-year international bribery and money laundering scheme involving corrupt payments to Ecuadorian officials.” (In December 2020, Vitol resolved a net $90 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action for conduct in Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico – see here).
In December 2022, the DOJ filed a superseding indictment adding FCPA and related charges in connection with an alleged Mexican bribery scheme. The DOJ alleged that Aguilar “together with others, engaged in a bribery and money laundering scheme involving the payment of bribes to Mexican officials … in exchange for, among other things, securing improper advantages for Vitol in obtaining and retain business with PEMEX and PEMEX Procurement International.
You are quoted in this article as recently stating that “the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been dismantled” under the Trump administration.
This is a false statement.
Given that your quote concerns a law and its enforcement, it is particularly egregious since you are a graduate of Harvard Law School and former editor of the Harvard Law Review.
For your benefit, I provide a brief overview of FCPA enforcement during the second Trump administration.
It is true, that on February 10, 2025 President Trump signed an Executive Order Titled “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security.” As highlighted in this post, several of the substantive issues discussed in the Executive Order had been festering in the FCPA space (and openly discussed by politicians in both parties) for approximately 15-20 years prior.
The “pause” lasted a brief 118 days, during which certain aspects of FCPA or related enforcement actually continued (see here, here, here, here, here).
This post highlights FCPA enforcement actions concerning conduct (in whole or in part) in Uzbekistan.
Three related large (from a settlement amount standpoint) enforcement actions concerning the Uzbekistan telecommunications sector lead the list.
The enforcement action concerned conduct in Uzbekistan and the allegations were: “From 2004 to at least 2012, MTS offered and paid bribes in violation of [FCPA] to a government official [Gulnara Karimova “a family member of the former President of Uzbekistan and was herself an Uzbek government official. She had influence over decisions made by UzACI, the regulatory authority governing telecommunications in Uzbekistan] in Uzbekistan in connection with its Uzbek operations.