For sixteen years and running, I have run searches for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act content every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
The amount of false or misleading FCPA information is rather astonishing – particularly when one considers much of it is published by individuals who portray themselves as FCPA experts or are paid journalists often with “mainstream” media outlets.
Often what makes the information false or misleading is lack of context including awareness that what may seem “new” has been occurring for quite some time, but now is apparently a big deal perhaps to advance some narrative.
Recently, this Bloomberg article states:
“Smartmatic, which President Donald Trump’s allies falsely blamed for stealing the 2020 election, last month became the first corporation in 15 years to be indicted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, even as the administration has scaled back such enforcement.”
The original version of the article stated that Smartmatic became the first corporation in 15 years to be “charged” under the FCPA which of course is false. I pointed this out to the journalist on social media who did make the charge, but deleted my comment.
I also pointed out to the journalist that the notion that the Trump administration “has scaled back [FCPA] enforcement” ignores the fact that over the past approximate four months there has been more corporate FCPA enforcement by the DOJ compared to 2021 and 2015.
The journalist deleted this comment as well – perhaps he didn’t want factual context to get in the way of a narrative. And below is what happened next.
Another example is this recent Compliance Week article about closed FCPA investigations by the DOJ.
In terms of factual context, the DOJ has long closed FCPA inquiries of a business organization without bringing an actual enforcement action and without explaining its rationale or reasons. It is very common, and as to a certain type of scenario (see here), I have advanced an FCPA reform proposal for the past 15 years.
Yet, apparently when common DOJ practice (whether one likes it or not) happens now, the words used are “discrete” and “the clandestine nature of these operations …”.
I suppose if a narrative is your goal.
