A “Foreign Official” Is Sentenced To Approximately 13 Years For Money Laundering
When the Foreign Extortion Prevention Action (FEPA) was enacted in late 2023 it was portrayed by some as filling a legal gap given that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act only captures the supply side of “bribery” and not the “demand side” (the “foreign officials” who receive or request bribes).
Like many things written in the FCPA (and related) space, the assertion lacked context because it ignored the fact that the Department of Justice has long used other criminal statutes (most often money laundering laws) to criminally charge “foreign officials” in connection with alleged bribery schemes before and even after FEPA was enacted. (See here).
Thus, was there really a meaningful “gap” that FEPA was actually filling?
The latest example concerns Omar Ambuila (pictured – a Colombian national employed by the Colombian Tax and Customs Directorate).