Global Anti-Bribery Year-in-Review: 2014 Developments and Predictions for 2015

The year 2014 saw significant anti-bribery developments, despite an overall decline in the number of FCPA actions commenced. The year brought the biggest single criminal penalty and second-highest total aggregate monetary penalty in the history of FCPA enforcement and, as we predicted in last year's review, included three "blockbuster" corporate resolutions—against Alstom, Alcoa, and Avon. This year also had the first circuit court ruling on what constitutes an "instrumentality" of a foreign government under the FCPA. A number of other developments are affecting the way that companies and individuals confront compliance with the FCPA and related internal and governmental investigations.