The Charitable Donation That Did Not Occur
If you have a pair of “FCPA goggles” (in other words – knowledge of the FCPA and how it is enforced) you no doubt know that some Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions have involved, in whole or in part, charitable donations.
See here and here for the Schering Plough and Eli Lilly enforcement actions involving the Chudow Castle Foundation in Poland, here for the Nu Skin enforcement action, here for the KT Corp. enforcement action, here for the Fresenius enforcement action, and here for the MTS enforcement action.
When an FCPA enforcement action is based on conduct that is otherwise legal and acceptable in most instances, a risk averse compliance response may be to avoid the conduct altogether for fear of FCPA scrutiny.
FCPA Professor Turns 16
In July 2009, FCPA Professor was launched with this simple mission statement.
Sixteen years and approximately 4,700 posts later, FCPA Professor is still here and the mission remains the same. In fact, FCPA Professor is the longest running daily information source about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act around.
What started out in 2009 as a “blog” has turned into a comprehensive website that has been described as “the Wall Street Journal concerning all things FCPA-related,” and “the most authoritative source for those seeking to understand and apply the FCPA.” Along the way, FCPA Professor has been named a Top Law Blog for in-house counsel by Corporate Counsel, a Top 25 Business Law Blog by LexisNexis, and a top 100 Legal Blog by the American Bar Association.
“Compliance Officer” / Dad
Yesterday was Father’s Day and for the tenth straight year I publish this post (with updates) as the “compliance officer” / Dad journey continues and our twin boys turned 17 this year.
Father is just one of my titles when it comes to the boys. Coach and Compliance Officer being a few others. As to the later, Co-Compliance Officer along with my wife is the more accurate title (I wonder what the “Compliance 2.0” [or are we on to 3.0 now] folks would say about this structure)?
Father’s Day is a chance to reflect and to be sure being a Dad has informed my view of many things including compliance. When you really think about, compliance and parenting have a lot in common.
The 118 Day “Pause” That Was
When President Trump issued an Executive Order on February 10th titled ““Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security,” some people seemingly had a “come apart.”
Those subject to the FCPA were all of a sudden going to go on a bribery binge.
American global competitiveness and national security were going to be “hurt.”
There was going to be less enforcement of FCPA-like laws by other countries.
These were just a few of the comments by some so-called “experts.”
Did any of this actually happen?
An Issue To Ponder
The world can sometimes be a complex place.
This general issue has been discussed several times on these pages – including most recently here.
A recent Wall Street Journal article titled “Critical Minerals Supply Faces Risk” notes:
“Critical minerals are essential raw materials used in high-tech manufacturing, from green-energy technologies to artificial intelligence and defense.
[…]
Demand for key minerals crucial to the energy transition has surged in recent years, mainly driven by electric vehicles, battery storage, renewables and grid networks.”