Foreign Countries Have Strong Foundation To Fill FCPA Void

An op-ed written by Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto founding partner, Stephen M. Kohn.

Shifting U.S. enforcement priorities may soon create a crisis in international anti-corruption efforts.

For decades, the U.S. spearheaded those efforts through prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. On Feb. 10, however, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order No. 14209, pausing enforcement of the FCPA. During the pause, the U.S. Department of Justice plans to reevaluate the enforcement strategies, and presumably approve a new approach that could weaken future U.S. prosecutions. The move will surely create a void that needs to be filled.

Due to the increasingly transnational nature of FCPA prosecutions, and the proven models of detection and enforcement endorsed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, liberal democracies across the globe are well equipped to fill that void.