Bribe Recipient Prosecutions Receive Boost With New Law, Firm Says
The recently enacted Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) will close a long-standing gap in anti-corruption enforcement by enabling the U.S. government to prosecute non-U.S. government officials who solicit or receive bribes, Dechert said in a Jan. 22 legal update.
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FEPA is intended to complement the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which focuses on those who pay bribes. Without FEPA, Dechert wrote, DOJ had to rely on a “creative mix” of anti-money laundering statutes, wire fraud statutes and economic sanctions regulations to prosecute bribe recipients.
“With FEPA, enforcement authorities in the United States have a statutory basis to prosecute both sides of a bribe,” Dechert said. “The United States now joins other countries, like the United Kingdom, France, and Switzerland, in revamping bribery laws to close potential gaps.”
Dechert recommends that companies and individuals monitor how broadly FEPA is interpreted, such as whether it will be used to prosecute conspiracies to demand or receive bribes. It also remains to be seen how the government will apprehend foreign officials who are not present in the U.S., the firm said.
Another area worth watching, Dechert said, is whether FEPA will be used in FCPA settlements to require companies to disclose information about foreign officials’ misconduct, and whether foreign officials will receive relaxed FEPA settlements for cooperating with FCPA investigations.
FEPA was proposed by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and Joe Wilson, R-S.C. It is included in the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that President Joe Biden signed into law Dec. 22.