Once I started, it was hard to stop. This previous post linked to and provided brief excerpts from law firm client alerts 48 hours after release of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidance by the DOJ and SEC. (See here). I updated the post throughout the week and it now contains links and excerpts to approximately 40 law firm alerts. If nothing else, the release of the FCPA guidance was news and demonstrates once again the existence of a vibrant and competitive FCPA industry. The clear consensus – among those who have publicly stated a position on the guidance – is the same as noted last week – the guidance offers little in terms of actual new substance and FCPA reform issues remain.
Several posts next week will explore various aspects of the guidance.
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As many in FCPA Inc. know, the release of the guidance occurred one day before a major industry event in Washington D.C. It was at this event last year that Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer announced the DOJ’s intention to issue guidance in 2012. (See here for the prior post).
Breuer once again spoke at the event and in his speech he largely carried forward the empty rhetoric from his other recent FCPA speech. (See here for the previous post). Breuer even used religious allegory in describing the DOJ’s FCPA enforcement program when he stated as follows. “[W]e in the United States are in a unique position to spread the gospel of anti-corruption, because there is no country that enforces its anti-bribery laws more vigorously than we do.”
Below are additional excerpts from his speech.
“As a result of our efforts over the past three-and-a-half years, robust FCPA enforcement has become part of the fabric of the Justice Department: Our global anti-corruption mission has seeped into the Criminal Division’s core. And there is no turning back. The FCPA is now a reality that companies know they must live with and adjust to; and this nation is better off for it.”
“We are focused on bribes of consequence – ones that have a fundamentally corrosive effect on the way companies do business abroad.”
In his speech, Breuer also gave props to the FCPA blogosphere when he stated as follows. “I’ve heard that there are even several blogs that keep track of each one of our cases, which I think is terrific.” It is terrific to fact-check FCPA enforcement agency speeches and to hold public officials accountable in enforcing a high-profile law.
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Speaking of the FCPA blogosphere (broadly speaking), several covered the industry event at which Breuer spoke.
See here from the Corporate Crime Reporter (focusing on DOJ and SEC declinations).
See here from Morrison & Foerster (a general discussion of DOJ and SEC comments).
See here from Howard Sklar at his Open Air Blog (apparently taking credit for the fact that the FCPA has always contained a corrupt intent element).
See here from Matteson Ellis at his FCPAmericas Blog (general discussion of issues).
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Breuer (along with other FCPA notables) also recently spoke at a Federalist Society event in Washington, D.C . See here for the writeup by Main Justice (an on-line news agency). For more on the event, see here from Law360.
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The DOJ’s FCPA website (here) has always contained a list of its FCPA Opinion Procedure Releases. Recently, the site was updated to provide a useful subject-matter index of the releases (here) as well as summaries (here).
