The U.S. announced just one enforcement action under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act through the first four months of this year (see 2101120021), the slowest start in FCPA enforcement in at least a decade, a May 3 FCPA Blog post said. The U.S. averaged about four or five corporate FCPA enforcement actions through the first four months of 2012 through 2020, the blog said. Some “high-level personnel changes” due to the White House transition may be contributing to the slow-down, it said. The FCPA units at the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission “are likely waiting for the dust to settle,” the blog said. “New leaders bring new agendas and priorities, and pending actions need fresh reviews.” DOJ didn’t comment.

The former chairman of Ecuador’s state-owned surety company was sentenced to 51 months in prison after accepting more than $5 million in bribes, the Justice Department said March 23. Juan Ribas Domenech, who headed Ecuador’s Seguros Sucre and advised the then-president of Ecuador, took bribes in exchange for contracts awarded to three United Kingdom-based reinsurance brokers, the agency said. The bribes were paid through intermediaries and a portion of the money was laundered through the U.S. Domenech pleaded guilty to the money-laundering charges in September 2020.

A former official working for the Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned energy company pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges in connection with a foreign bribery scheme, the Department of Justice said March 23. Dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen Jose Luis De Jongh Atencio, who worked at Citgo Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., accepted more than $7 million in bribes in exchange for contracts with Citgo, the agency said. De Jongh directed those bribe payments into bank accounts created under shell companies in Panama and Switzerland before laundering the money through U.S. and other international banks, the Justice said. He also created fake invoices to justify the payments and received various gifts from business people seeking Citgo contracts, including tickets to a World Series game, a Super Bowl and a U2 concert. De Jongh accepted the bribes from two businessmen, Jose Manuel Gonzalez Testino, a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen, and Tulio Anibal Farias Perez, a Venezuelan national and Houston resident, who pleaded guilty to related charges, Justice said. De Jongh faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and agreed to forfeit more than $3 million and 15 properties that he bought with the bribes.

Toyota may have violated U.S. anti-bribery laws, the carmaker said in a March 18 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company said it disclosed the potential violations, which involved its subsidiary in Thailand, to the SEC and the Justice Department in April 2020. Toyota is cooperating with both agencies -- which enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act -- and said it may be subject to penalties but “cannot predict the scope, duration or outcome of the matter at this time.” A company spokesperson declined to comment.

The Department of Justice recently expanded its foreign bribery unit to a record 39 prosecutors, paving the way for aggressive Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement under the Biden administration, the Wall Street Journal reported March 8. The agency is placing an emphasis on hiring lawyers with FCPA compliance backgrounds, the report said, which could translate to increased agency efforts to promote industry compliance. A Justice Department spokesperson pointed to the agency's 2020 year in review.

U.S. technology company Cisco Systems is investigating whether its employees in China were involved in a “self-enrichment scheme” that included payments to state-owned entities, it said in a Feb. 16 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Cisco said those employees, who no longer work for the company, may have “made or directed payments from the funds they received to various third parties,” including employees of state-controlled companies. Cisco said it disclosed the potential violations to the Justice Department. “While the outcome of our investigation is currently not determinable, we do not expect that it will have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows,” the company said. The Justice Department didn't comment.

An Ecuadorian businessman was sentenced to 35 months in prison for his role in a $4.4 million bribery scheme that violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Justice Department said Jan. 28. Armengol Alfonso Cevallos Diaz, who pleaded guilty to the charges last year (see 2001240032), worked with others to bribe officials at Empresa Publica de Hidrocarburos del Ecuador (PetroEcuador), Ecuador's state-owned oil company, the Justice Department said. The agency also said it charged former PetroEcuador officials and other businessmen and contractors involved in the scheme.

A new South Korea anti-corruption regulator to target high-ranking government officials could affect private companies doing business with the country, an FCPA Blog post said Jan. 20. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials will act as an independent agency to investigate corruption cases among both acting and retired public officials, the post said. The body can also investigate crimes related to corruption, including bribes paid by private companies or companies that “acted as accomplices to the crimes committed by high-ranking officials.” The agency is expected to start work in the “next few months,” the post said. Companies doing business in South Korea “should carefully review their risk profiles with respect to interactions with Korea’s senior officials.”

Germany-based Deutsche Bank will pay more than $130 million to settle its violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and separate investigation into a commodities fraud scheme, the Justice Department said Jan. 8. The violations stem from a scheme to hide bribes, which included internal accounting control violations, and another scheme involving “fraudulent and manipulative commodities trading practices” in publicly traded precious metals futures.

A New Jersey man who owned two U.S. companies involved in supplying naval goods and services, pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after he bribed a South Korean government official, the Justice Department said Dec. 17. The agency said Deck Won Kang paid $100,000 in bribes to a Korean official to obtain and retain contracts with South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), a state-owned and -controlled defense agency.