Bribery

Subscribe to Bribery via RSS

In December 2023, President Biden signed the new Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA), closing a gap in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by criminalizing the “demand side” of foreign bribery. While the FCPA prohibits offering or paying bribes to foreign government officials, the FEPA made it illegal for foreign officials to solicit or accept bribes from U.S. entities or individuals. Less than a year after its enactment, Congress has quietly passed significant amendments to the new law, with the stated goal of removing “inconsistencies between the language of the FCPA and the FEPA [b]ecause these statutes are intended to be complementary, with parts of them addressing the same problem.” See 170 Cong. Rec. H4656-02, H4657.Continue Reading Congress’s Recent “Technical” Amendments to the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act Change Key Aspects of the New Law

On December 14, 2023, with bipartisan support, Congress passed the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (“FEPA”), making it a federal crime for any foreign government official to demand, receive, or agree to receive a bribe from a U.S. company or individual, or any person while in United States territory in exchange or in connection with obtaining or retaining business. The legislation is part of the National Defense Authorization Act, and is anticipated to be signed into law by President Biden. Considered by the law’s authors to be one of “the most sweeping and consequential foreign bribery laws in nearly half a century,” FEPA has “the potential to help root out foreign corruption at its source.”[1]Continue Reading Corrupt Foreign Leaders Now on the Hook for Bribery Charges: Congress Passes the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act