Posts tagged as:

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

February 14 roundup

by Walter Olson on February 14, 2012

  • “Brazil Sues Twitter in Bid to Ban Speed Trap and Roadblock Warnings” [ABA Journal]
  • Obama nominates Michigan trial lawyer Marietta Robinson to vacancy on Consumer Product Safety Commission, ensuring aggressively pro-regulatory majority [Bluey, Heritage]
  • “AMA reports show high cost of malpractice suits” [HCFN] “Average expense to defend against a medical liability claim in 2010 was $47,158″ [American Medical News, more] Survey of 1,200 orthopedic surgeons finds defensive medicine rife, at cost of billions, accounting for 7 percent of all hospital admissions [MedPageToday]
  • “Sue us only in Delaware” bylaws would kill off forum-shopping and what fun is that? [Bainbridge, Reuters]
  • Trial by media: Lefty “SourceWatch” posts, then deletes, docs from Madison County pesticide suit [Madison County Record]
  • Think you’ve beaten FCPA rap? Meet the obscure “Travel Act” [Mike Emmick, Reuters] Federal court expands “honest services fraud” in lobbying case [Paul Enzinna, Point of Law]
  • “On the horrors of getting approval for an ice-cream parlour in San Francisco” [NYT via Doctorow/BoingBoing]

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More FCPA acquittals

by Walter Olson on February 2, 2012

Defenders of the government’s aggressive prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are finding more and more to be defensive about. The latest in the string of setbacks for the Department of Justice came Monday, when a jury acquitted two defendants in the Justice Department’s 2009 Gabon “sting” operation and the case against three others ended in a mistrial. Alison Frankel: “So far, the Justice Department has not managed to convict a single Gabon sting defendant who contested its charges.” [WaPo, WSJ blog and related, earlier]

More: “A Guest Post From The Africa Sting Jury Foreman” [FCPA Professor]

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January 28 roundup

by Walter Olson on January 28, 2012

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The Justice Department’s FCPA fiasco

by Walter Olson on January 19, 2012

For the third time in weeks, a federal judge has thrown out in whole or part a prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), this year’s booming subject of white-collar law enforcement. What’s more, judges in more than one of the cases have criticized the tactics of the U.S. Department of Justice in truly scathing terms, just as they have criticized DoJ tactics in environmental and other white-collar prosecutions over the past year. Isn’t it time — I ask at Cato at Liberty — for Congress to investigate? [earlier; related, Nathan Vardi/Forbes] (& welcome Instapundit, Damon Root/Reason, Memeorandum, Samuel Rubinfeld/WSJ “Corruption Currents”, Radley Balko readers).

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December 27 roundup

by Walter Olson on December 27, 2011

  • Exoneree’s ex sues him for share of state’s wrongful-imprisonment payout [Dallas Observer via Balko]
  • Gibson’s alleged crime: ebony veneer too thick [Andrew Grossman, earlier here, here]
  • About that flap over “free” lawyer representation of Wisconsin high court justice [Rick Esenberg, Shark and Shepherd]
  • Allegation: Binder & Binder, largest Social Security advocacy firm, used red stickers to flag clients’ unfavorable medical info, often withheld it from disability-claim judges [WSJ]
  • “Judge Dismisses Landmark Bribery Conviction, Rips DOJ” [WSJ Law Blog, Lindsey order, more, my Cato post] FCPA reverse for federal prosecutors in arms trade case [BLT]
  • Congress passes bill clarifying jurisdiction, venue [Howard Wasserman, Prawfs]
  • Important reason to record cop-citizen interactions: to protect police from false claims [Scott Greenfield]

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FCPA needs rollback, not just more clarity

by Walter Olson on November 12, 2011

I’ve got a new post at Cato at Liberty summarizing the case for rolling back, not just clarifying, the vague yet draconian Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (& Point of Law, @RameshPonnuru). More: FCPA Professor. Related: Open Society Foundation publishes lawprofs’ defense of FCPA. How convincing is it? [FCPA Prof]

More from Scott Greenfield, including some comments on the FCPA-entrenching tendency of the DoJ-white collar bar partnership, and this from commenter “Libertarian Advocate”: “Seen through a different prism, the FCPA is a loud and unambiguous statement by the federal government that it reserves unto itself the exclusive right to corrupt foreign entities and officials.” And FCPA Professor isn’t on board with our criticism. Further: PoL on specific reform proposals.

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“A French company bribes Nigerian foreign officials…”

by Walter Olson on August 5, 2010

“…with the end result being $338 million paid into the United States treasury.” Mike Koehler reports on a cluster of enforcement actions that illustrate how the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — now with added whistleblowing goodness — is fast turning into a cash cow for Washington, D.C. enforcers [earlier]

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Peter Henning on SEC whistleblowing

by Walter Olson on July 28, 2010

As I’ve been warning: under the new Dodd-Frank provisions, companies “should expect at least some of their employees to report to the government first rather than relying on internal disclosure mechanisms.” [NYT "DealBook", earlier here, here, etc.] More: various perspectives on FCPA whistleblower bounties [Koehler]

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“New Financial Regulations Will Make Whistleblowing Lucrative”

by Walter Olson on July 22, 2010

I’m quoted in this report by Dunstan Prial of FoxBusiness.com and in this report by David Savage of the Los Angeles Times on the large-scale bounty incentives in the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, which bring us closer to an “informer model of law enforcement” that “encourages people to be disloyal to their friends and co-workers.” Earlier here and here. Other coverage of the whistleblowing provisions: Coyle/NLJ, Koehler/FCPA Professor, Baer/Prawfsblawg.

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July 15 roundup

by Walter Olson on July 15, 2010

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Forbes: “The Bribery Racket”

by Walter Olson on May 8, 2010

Lawyers are doing very, very well from the rising wave of prosecutions under the 33-year-old Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. But what other good is being done? Nathan Vardi takes a close look in a cover story (and sidebars) at Forbes. Some background: Point of Law.

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