The SEC’s most recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action was against Gol Airlines – a Brazil corporation (see here for the prior post).
Prior to that, was the SEC’s FCPA enforcement action against Tenaris – a Luxembourg corporation (see here and here for prior posts). Prior to that, was the SEC’s FCPA enforcement against KT Corp. – a South Korean corporation (see here and here for prior posts). Prior to that was the SEC’s FCPA enforcement action against Credit Suisse – a Swiss Corporation (see here). Prior to that against WPP – a United Kingdom Corporation (see here). Prior to that, against Amec Foster Wheeler – a U.K. corporation and successor in interest to a Swiss corporation (see here). Prior to that, against Deutsche Bank – a German corporation (see here and here).
The only SEC FCPA enforcement actions in the last approximate two years against U.S. companies have been against Stericycle (see here and here for prior posts) and Goldman Sachs (see here and here for prior posts).
And those enforcement actions were preceded by SEC FCPA enforcement actions against J&F Investimentos – a Brazilian company (see here) and Herbalife – a Cayman Islands corporation (see here).
So if you are still scoring at home, that is nine out of the last eleven (82%) SEC corporate FCPA enforcement actions have been against foreign companies.
Going back a bit further – to September 2019 – and capturing the 20 most recent SEC corporate FCPA enforcement actions, 14 out of the 20 enforcement actions (70%) have been against foreign companies. In addition to the above mentioned FCPA enforcement actions, there have been enforcement actions against Novartis – a Swiss corporation (see here); Eni – an Italian corporation (see here); Ericsson – a Swedish corporation (see here); Westport Fuel Systems – a Canadian corporation (see here); Barclays – a United Kingdom corporation (see here); and TechnipFMC – a United Kingdom company (see here); and Deutsche Bank (again) – a German corporation (see here).
Other than the above mentioned Stericycle and Goldman enforcement actions, the only other SEC corporate FCPA enforcement actions in the past approximate 3 years to involve U.S. corporations have been World Acceptance, Alexion, Cardinal Health, Quad Graphics, and Juniper.
