Recently the Department of Justice Fraud Section released its 2021 Year in Review.
Set forth below are the FCPA relevant portions.
The Fraud Section has three “litigating units” including the FCPA Unit described as follows:
“The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit has primary jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute violations of the FCPA and works in parallel with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has civil enforcement authority for violations of the FCPA by publicly traded companies. The FCPA Unit has brought criminal enforcement actions against individuals and companies and has focused its enforcement efforts on both the supply side and demand side of corrupt transactions. The FCPA Unit also plays a leading role in developing policy as it relates to the FCPA, and training and assisting foreign governments in the global fight against corruption.”
As stated by the DOJ:
“The FCPA Unit’s 39 prosecutors investigate and prosecute cases under the FCPA and related statutes. Given the global nature of our economy, corruption abroad poses a serious threat to American citizens and companies that are trying to compete in a fair and transparent marketplace. Transnational corruption also empowers corrupt regimes and leads to destabilization of foreign governments, which can result in significant threats to America’s national security. Our prosecutors cooperate with international law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute foreign bribery offenses committed by both U.S. and foreign individuals and companies and have achieved significant coordinated corporate resolutions with foreign law enforcement partners over the past several years. Our prosecutors train foreign law enforcement authorities to help them more effectively combat transnational corruption. The FCPA Unit also plays an integral role in working with other U.S. agencies to ensure that the United States is meeting its anti-corruption treaty obligations, including under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention. In 2021, FCPA and CECP Unit attorneys actively participated in the meetings of numerous anti-corruption global bodies, including the OECD, United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation network (APEC), and played an active role in drafting the 2021 OECD Anti-Bribery Recommendation. In December 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration released the United States Strategy on Countering Corruption, which reflects the U.S. government’s continued commitment to the fight against corruption.”
The Year in Review contains the following infographic.
Note: the above figures (both individual and corporate) include resolutions that did not actually involve FCPA offenses.
Under the heading “Participation in Global Anti-Corruption Bodies,” the report states:
“The United States is a party to several international anti-corruption conventions, including the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption. Under these conventions, member countries undertake commitments to adopt a range of preventive and criminal law enforcement measures to combat corruption. The conventions incorporate review processes that permit other parties to monitor the United States’ anti-corruption laws and enforcement to ensure that such enforcement and legal frameworks are consistent with the United States’ treaty obligations.
The Fraud Section, and the CECP Unit and FCPA Unit in particular, play an integral role in working with the State Department and other U.S. agencies to ensure that the United States is meeting its treaty obligations. Aside from participating in meetings related to foreign bribery and corruption hosted by the OECD, the United Nations, and other intergovernmental bodies and liaising with these bodies throughout the year on anticorruption matters, the Fraud Section has actively participated in the reviews of other countries pursuant to anti-bribery conventions. The Fraud Section also has taken a leading role in the OECD Working Group on Bribery’s Law Enforcement Officials (LEO) Group meetings, where prosecutors discuss best practices with law enforcement authorities from around the world. The Acting Chief of the CECP Unit is currently the Co-Chair of the LEO Group.
The CECP Unit also collaborates with United Kingdom enforcement authorities. The Fraud Section has detailed a prosecutor to the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to further develop and expand the close collaboration and cooperation between those agencies and the Department; the Fraud Section began this program with a prior detailee to the SFO and FCA from 2017 to 2020. Deployed from and overseen by the CECP Unit, this unique position reflects the Department’s commitment to international cooperation in the fight against sophisticated cross-border economic crime. The Fraud Section’s detailee participates in FCA and SFO investigations, advises DOJ, FCA, SFO and other UK regulatory and law enforcement personnel on effective interagency coordination, and otherwise serves as a liaison between the Fraud Section and some of its most critical overseas law enforcement and regulatory partners.”
