Thus far in 2023, the SEC has brought four FCPA enforcement actions.
All of the enforcement actions have been against foreign issuers.
All of the enforcement actions have been resolved through an administrative order (meaning there was no judicial scrutiny whatsoever).
All of the enforcement actions have lacked related enforcement actions against individuals.
The five enforcement actions thus far in 2023 have involved:
- Rio Tinto (a metal and mining company with headquarters in Australia and the United Kingdom);
- Flutter International (a company headquartered in Ireland which is the successor in interest to The Stars Group a company that was headquartered in Canada);
- Frank’s International (a Dutch oilfield services provider now known as Expro Group Holdings N.V.); and
- Koninklijke Philips (a Dutch manufacturer of health technology products).
Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and the Netherlands are all signatory countries to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and have capable law enforcement agencies to bring enforcement actions.
Yet, the SEC has extracted approximately $90 million in these enforcement actions.
For many years, SEC enforcement officials have talked about the importance of individual FCPA enforcement actions. However, none of the four corporate enforcement actions brought by the SEC thus far this year have involved related individual enforcement actions.
In fact, the SEC has not brought an individual FCPA enforcement action since October 2020 – a nearly 2.5 year gap. (See here).
Since October 2020, the SEC has brought 15 corporate FCPA enforcement actions and none of them have involved related actions against individuals.
Not one.
Zero.
0-15.
