FCPA Enforcement in 2010: Prepare for Blastoff

When Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer was recently asked to comment on enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 2009, he minced no words: “One can say without exaggeration that this past year was probably the most dynamic single year in the more than 30 years since the FCPA was enacted.” 

He’s not kidding. The Justice Department brought a record 26 actions in 2009; the Securities and Exchange Commission brought another 14, its second-most ever. The DoJ’s cases included prosecutions of 44 individuals—a huge surge from just nine in 2008, 10 in 2007, and six in 2006. Further, after five years without a single FCPA enforcement reaching trial, no fewer than four individuals took their FCPA case to a jury in 2009, also making it “the year of the FCPA trial,” according to Breuer. 

For the full article from Bruce Carton’s Securities Docket click here.