DOJ FCPA Enforcement – 2025 Year In Review
This recent post summarized SEC Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement against issuers in 2025.
Today’s post focuses on the other FCPA enforcement agency – the Department of Justice – and highlights various facts and figures relevant to DOJ FCPA enforcement in 2025 against business organizations. (See here for a similar post for 2024; here for 2023; here for for 2022; here for 2021; here for 2020; here for 2019; here for 2018; here for 2017, here for 2016, here for 2015, here for 2014, here for 2013, here for 2012, here for 2011, and here for 2010).
Where Was The Outrage?
Fact.
The DOJ has long closed FCPA inquiries without bringing any actual enforcement action (regardless of form).
Observation.
It seems like in the past few months when a company has disclosed this rather routine DOJ practice, some are responding with outrage.
Yet, where was the outrage when the DOJ under prior administrations closed FCPA inquiries?
Is not selective outrage a rather obvious sign of so many things?
Rewind
A meaningful amount of “stuff” written about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – including by “major” media sources or so-called “experts” – completely lacks context.
With context lacking, many things may seem new (and thus controversial) when in reality the development is hardly new.
With the DOJ’s recent release of a policy memo titled “Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” this post rewinds the clock back to 1983 to highlight certain articles about a prior era of the FCPA.
Justice Department Cuts Back on Foreign Bribery Cases (Feb. 22, 1983)
Many Of The Topics Discussed In The FCPA Guidelines Are Not New
On June 9th, DOJ Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued this memo to the head of the DOJ Criminal Division titled “Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”
At first blush, it may seem like there are many new topics in the Guidelines.
What is perhaps new is that these topics are actually written down in a DOJ policy document, but as highlighted in this post and future posts, many of the topics discussed in the Guidelines have been happening before our eyes for several years.
For instance, the Guidelines state:
DOJ Criminal Division Head Galeotti On …
Yesterday, DOJ Criminal Division head Matthew Galeotti gave this speech in which talked about the DOJ’s recently released “Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” (See here for the prior post) as well as the DOJ “White Collar Enforcement Plan” released last month (see here for the prior post).
Galeotti began:
“The Deputy Attorney General sent me a memorandum, which he publicly released, detailing the new FCPA Enforcement Guidelines called for by the President’s Executive Order. These Guidelines provide evaluation criteria and a non-exhaustive list of factors to balance when deciding whether to pursue an FCPA case.”