Since 2005, the DOJ has charged 79 individuals with FCPA criminal offenses. (2005 – 1 individual) (2006 – 6 individuals) (2007 – 8 individuals) (2008 – 12 individuals) (2009 – 19 individuals) (2010 – 31 individuals including 22 in the Africa Sting case) (2011 – as of 9/20 – 2 individuals).
An analysis of the numbers reveals some interesting points.
Since 2008, 64 individuals have been charged; but 22 individuals were in the Africa Sting case; 8 individuals (minus the “foreign officials” charged) were in the Haiti Teleco case; 8 individuals were in the Control Components case; 4 individuals were in the Lindsey Manufacturing case; 4 individuals were in the Hondutel case; and 4 individuals were in the Nexus Technologies case).
In other words, 60% of the individuals charged by the DOJ since 2008 have been in just three cases and 78% of the individuals charged by the DOJ since 2008 have been in just six cases.
Considering that there has been 42 “core” corporate DOJ FCPA enforcement actions (NPAs, DPAs, Pleas, or Convictions) since 2008, this is a rather remarkable statistic. Of the 42 “core” corporate DOJ FCPA enforcement actions, 30 (or 71%) have not (at least yet) resulted in any DOJ charges against company employees.
During this era of the FCPA’s resurgence, the DOJ has consistently stated that prosecution of individuals is a “cornerstone” of its FCPA enforcement strategy. Yet, the above numbers paint a different picture – at least in certain enforcement actions. What type of enforcement actions? What other items of note can be gleaned from these statistics? Stay tuned for additional analysis of individual DOJ FCPA prosecutions.
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Note, unlike some others, I keep my FCPA statistics using the “core” approach. Thus, for instance, the Siemens DOJ enforcement action was 1 “core” enforcement action even if the DOJ entered into separate agreements with Siemens AG, Siemens Argentina, Siemens Bangladesh, and Siemens Venezuela.
