Siemens, the German engineering giant, agreed Monday to pay a record total of $1.6 billion to American and European authorities to settle charges that it routinely used bribes and slush funds to secure huge public works contracts around the world.  For the story click here. Yet suprisisngly Siemens avoids either a guilty plea or a [...]

From: The National Law Journal, November 25, 2008 The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission expects in the next two to six months to slap larger penalties than in the past on a number of companies that have allegedly violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, reminding lawyers in the field that the regulator is taking a tougher [...]

From: mondaq.com, November 9, 2008 In the fervor of conducting trade globally, U.S. companies may inadvertently expose themselves to risk by having inadequate policies, procedures, and monitoring controls to prevent and detect corrupt payments to foreign officials. Highly regarded companies such as Alcatel-Lucent and Chevron have paid dearly for such violations of the Foreign Corrupt [...]

For an excellent primer on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act from the Pennsylvania Litigation Blog  click here.