Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Abby Kohlman, former DOJ prosecutor in the fraud section, has rejoined Akin Gump as senior counsel in the white collar defense and government investigations practice, the firm announced. At DOJ, Kohlman also served as special counsel for the Office of Legislative Affairs. Kohlman's practice will focus on advising clients on congressional investigations and other government inquiries, including those related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
President Donald Trump's recent executive order halting prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act likely won't change the behavior of many companies, given the risk of prosecution globally or in the U.S. after Trump leaves office, lawyers said.
President Donald Trump on Feb. 10 instructed the attorney general to cease from opening any new investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for 180 days so that the Office of the Attorney General can issue new guidelines for FCPA enforcement that "prioritize American interests" and U.S. "economic competitiveness." In the order, Trump said the FCPA has been "abused" and "impedes the United States' foreign policy objectives."
President Donald Trump is poised to roll back enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act until Attorney General Pam Bondi can issue new enforcement guidelines, Bloomberg reported Feb. 10. Trump is expected to sign an executive order halting FCPA enforcement until all current and past actions are reviewed and the guidelines are issued. A fact sheet being drafted by the administration says "U.S. companies are harmed by FCPA overenforcement because they are prohibited from engaging in practices common among international competitors, creating an uneven playing field," according to the report.
McKinsey and Co. Africa, a subsidiary of consulting giant McKinsey, will pay over $122 million to settle an investigation that found the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to South African government officials from 2012 to 2016, DOJ announced. A former McKinsey senior partner, Vikas Sagar, pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme.
Laura Perkins, former assistant chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit at DOJ, has joined Cadwalader Wickersham as a partner, the firm announced. Perkins worked at DOJ from 2007 to 2015 and was most recently a lawyer with Hughes Hubbard.
The U.S charged seven Indian businessmen with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to Indian government officials to receive "lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. The indictment, unsealed Nov. 20, also outlines various securities and wire fraud charges against the businessmen and names Gautam Adani, one of the world's richest people, as a defendant.
The former CEO of 500.com, which now operates as crypto mining company BIT Mining Ltd., was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to Japanese government officials, DOJ announced. In addition, BIT Mining agreed to settle DOJ and SEC investigations into its FCPA violations, entering into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ.
A Venezuela-based subsidiary of Telefonica, a global telecommunications operator based in Spain, will pay over $85.2 million to settle charges that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. The U.S. alleged that Telefonica Venezolana bribed Venezuelan government officials in exchange for preferential access to U.S. dollars in a currency auction.