Thirty-five years ago this month, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act became law. In connection with this anniversary, I am pleased to share my scholarship “The Story of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” recently published in the Ohio State Law Journal. For a short video introduction to the article and issues, see here courtesy of Levick Communications.
“The Story of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” is the most extensive piece ever written about the FCPA’s history and it tells the FCPA’s story through original voices of actual participants who shaped the law.
The abstract of the article is as follows.
In the mid-1970s, Congress journeyed into uncharted territory. After more than two years of investigation, deliberation, and consideration, what emerged in 1977 was the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a pioneering statute and the first law in the world governing domestic business conduct with foreign government officials in foreign markets. This Article weaves together information and events scattered in the FCPA’s voluminous legislative record to tell the FCPA’s story through original voices of actual participants who shaped the law. As the FCPA approaches thirty-five years old, and as enforcement enters a new era, the FCPA’s story remains important and relevant to government agencies charged with enforcing the law, those subject to the law, and policy makers contemplating reform.
