DOJ officials said they have seen a rise in voluntary self-disclosures in recent months, including for possible violations of export controls and sanctions. They also stressed that the agency is continuing to double down on its enforcement resources, including by hiring more prosecutors and starting a new whistleblower initiative to better incentivize tips about corporate wrongdoing.
Gunvor S.A., a wing of global commodities trading giant Gunvor Group, pleaded guilty on March 1 to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of a scheme to bribe officials of Petroecuador, the Ecuadorian state-owned oil company, and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Hydrocarbons. Gunvor was ordered to pay a $661 million criminal penalty for bribing the officials to receive contracts to buy oil products, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced.
Former commodities trader Javier Aguilar was convicted Feb. 23 of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing officials of Ecuadorian state-owned oil company Petroecuador. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York also said Aguilar was found guilty of laundering money used to bribe Ecuadorian officials of Petroecuador and of an affiliate of the Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex. He faces a maximum 30-year prison stint.
Anden Chow, former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has joined litigation boutique MoloLamken as a partner in New York, the firm announced. Chow worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney for a decade, most recently working on prosecutions into "international financial crime," including "sanctions evasion, asset forfeiture, money laundering, cryptocurrency-related fraud, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations," the firm said.
Jennifer Solari, a former senior official with DOJ who prosecuted export violations, has joined BakerHostetler, the law firm announced this week. Her practice will focus on export controls, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other white collar issues.
DOJ likely will continue expanding its cooperation with foreign governments in investigating and prosecuting Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, Miller & Chevalier lawyer John Davis said in an interview. After a year that saw DOJ cooperate with South Africa and Colombia for the first time, Davis said, the agency will seek to work with more Latin American and European nations on FCPA enforcement.
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.
Businesses and industry lawyers should expect to see an increase in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement this year, especially as DOJ more frequently uses data analytics to find possible violations, said Dan Kahn, the former chief of DOJ’s FCPA unit.
The U.S. fined German software company SAP SE more than $200 million for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, saying it bribed government officials in South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Indonesia and Azerbaijan to secure business contracts. The company agreed to a nearly $100 million settlement with the SEC and faces a $118.8 million criminal penalty, along with a forfeiture, as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ.
Lance Jasper, former senior counsel for the SEC's Division of Enforcement, has joined Akin as a partner in the white collar defense and government investigations practice group, the firm announced. Jasper, who worked for the SEC for over a decade, will focus on white collar defense, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases.