President Trump has issued an executive order directing the Department of Justice to pause and reevaluate its enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Under the FCPA it is unlawful to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business. Since 1977 the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA have applied to all U.S. persons and certain foreign issuers of securities, and in 1998 those provisions were extended to foreign firms and persons who cause an act in furtherance of a corrupt payment to take place within U.S. territory.
The DOJ has actively enforced the FCPA and in just the last year alone assessed more than $1 billion in penalties for violations around the world. According to the White House, the DOJ and the Securities and Exchange Committee filed 26 FCPA-related enforcement actions in 2024 and over the past decade there have been an average of 36 per year.
However, the EO asserts that the FCPA “has been systematically, and to a steadily increasing degree, stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States.” The EO explains that “overexpansive and unpredictable FCPA enforcement against American citizens and businesses — by our own Government — for routine business practices in other nations not only wastes limited prosecutorial resources that could be dedicated to preserving American freedoms, but actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security.”
In response, in an effort to advance national security by “eliminating excessive barriers to American commerce abroad” (including in the areas of critical minerals, deepwater ports, and other key infrastructure or assets), the EO directs the DOJ to conduct a 180-day review of guidelines and policies governing FCPA investigations and enforcement actions.
During this period the DOJ will be required to (1) cease initiation of any new FCPA investigations or enforcement actions (with limited exceptions), (2) review in detail all existing FCPA investigations or enforcement actions and take appropriate action with respect to such matters to restore proper bounds on FCPA enforcement and preserve presidential foreign policy prerogatives, and (3) issue updated guidelines or policies to adequately promote the president’s authority to conduct foreign affairs and prioritize U.S. interests, U.S. economic competitiveness with respect to other nations, and the efficient use of federal law enforcement resources.
After the revised guidelines or policies are issued, the DOJ will determine whether additional actions are warranted, including remedial measures with respect to “inappropriate” past FCPA investigations and enforcement actions, and to take any such actions or recommend them to the president.
New Attorney General Pam Bondi has already issued a memorandum directing the DOJ’s FCPA Unit to prioritize investigations related to foreign bribery that facilitates the criminal operations of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and to shift focus away from investigations and cases that do not involve such a connection.
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