South Korea-based KT Corp. agreed to pay $6.3 million after it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Feb. 17. The telecommunications company, “engaged in multiple schemes” to make “improper payments” to government officials in South Korea and Vietnam, the SEC said, and didn’t have adequate internal accounting controls over charitable donations, third-party payments, executive bonuses and gift card purchases.
The Department of Justice this week released the 2021 year in review for its Fraud Section, detailing the agency's work on cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The review includes statistics on prosecuted FCPA cases, information on new officials who joined the FCPA Unit last year, and a list of “significant” corporate resolutions, individual indictments and guilty pleas.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., announced he is introducing a bill that would make U.S. companies liable for statements "that excuse the genocide in Xinjiang" or other statements that advance Chinese propaganda efforts, and would make it illegal to invest in core Chinese Communist Party activities. He says these actions would be subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, unless companies could explain that their actions were not made to gain or retain market access. Traditionally, the FCPA has been used to prosecute the offering of bribes by U.S. persons or firms in foreign countries.
The House’s America Competes Act of 2022 would revise and introduce a range of new export control and sanctions provisions, including new restrictions on exports of electronic waste-related goods, more designations targeting China for human rights abuses and a repeal of the sunset of the Magnitsky human rights sanctions regime. The bill, unveiled this week as the response to the Senate’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, would also require the Biden administration to conduct “periodic” reviews over its export controls for surveillance equipment, urges the administration to reexamine U.S. export policies for countries that supply weapons to terrorist organizations and calls for better harmonization of U.S. export control and sanctions policies with allies.
Iris Bennett, former cross-border investigations and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act attorney at boutique firm Smith Pachter, has joined Steptoe & Johnson as a partner in its Investigations and White Collar Defense Group, the firm announced. Based in Washington D.C., Bennett will tap her experience carrying out internal investigations over potential violations of the FCPA, the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Act, the firm said.
Agustin Orozco, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California for the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, has rejoined Crowell & Moring, the firm announced. Orozco will work as a partner in the Los Angeles office's White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement and Government Contracts groups. He will focus on white collar criminal defense and corporate investigations, and advise individuals and companies on matters relating to the "Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), False Claims Act (FCA), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and alleged violations of Title 18 of the United States Code," the firm said.
Timothy Broas, former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, joined Wilson Sonsini in the firm's government investigations practice as senior of counsel, the law firm said. Broas joins from Bryan Cave, where he worked for just over three years on white collar matters including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.
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Audrey Harris, an anti-corruption and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act attorney, has joined Affiliated Monitors in Denver as managing director of global anti-corruption, compliance, ethics and non-financial risk, Harris announced in a LinkedIn post. Harris left her position as partner and co-chair of Mayer Brown's Anti-Corruption & FCPA Practice in Washington, D.C., after working at the firm since 2018.
Daniel Solomon, former anti-corruption and trade compliance attorney at Smith Pachter, joined Miller & Chevalier as a member its International Department, the firm announced. Solomon brings to his new practice experience with economic sanctions, export controls and U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement and investigations, the firm said.