As highlighted in this previous post, in early 2019 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued this enforcement advisory concerning companies and individuals “that timely and voluntarily disclose to the Division violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) involving foreign corrupt practices, where the voluntary disclosure is followed by full cooperation and appropriate remediation.”
Certain sources, including the FCPA Blog, falsely claimed that the CFTC would now be investigating and prosecuting FCPA violations. However, the CFTC advisory clearly concerned violations of the CEA. (See here for a recent FCPA Flash podcast on the topic).
Recently, in connection with the actual FCPA enforcement action against Vitol, the CFTC also brought an enforcement action against the company for its “fraudulent and manipulative conduct – including conduct relating to foreign corruption.” As stated in the CFTC’s release “this is the first action brought by the CFTC involving foreign corruption” and this post takes a closer look at the CFTC enforcement action.
