As highlighted in this prior post, in November 2018 the Department of Justice announced a China Initiative. Among the goals of the China Initiative was to ‘identify Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) cases involving Chinese companies that compete with American businesses.”
Recently, the DOJ updated its China Initiative page and provided approximately 60 “China-Related Case Examples.”
Two FCPA enforcement actions were included. As stated by the DOJ:
“Two Former Executives of the China Subsidiary of a Multi-Level Marketing Company Charged for Scheme to Pay Foreign Bribes and Circumvent Internal Accounting Controls”
The former head of the Chinese subsidiary of a publicly traded international multi-level marketing company and the former head of the external affairs department of the Chinese subsidiary of the same company were charged for their roles in a scheme to violate the anti-bribery and the internal control provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
See here for the prior post regarding the November 2019 enforcement action against former Herbalife China executives.
The other FCPA enforcement action – as stated by the DOJ:
“Former Head of Organization Backed by Chinese Energy Conglomerate Convicted of International Bribery, Money Laundering Offenses
Chi Ping Patrick Ho, the head of the China Energy Fund Committee, a nongovernmental organization, was convicted on seven counts for his participation in a multi-year, multimillion-dollar scheme to bribe top officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for a Chinese oil and gas company. After a one-week jury trial, Ho was found guilty of one count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), four counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering, and one count of committing international money laundering.”
What’s interesting though is that these “China Initiative” enforcement actions originated long before the November 2018 China Initiative.
For instance, Herbalife disclosed its FCPA scrutiny in January 2017. (See here for the prior post).
As highlighted in this prior post, Ho was criminally charged in November 2017.
