Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 2016 Year-End Update

2016 was a record-setting year for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") enforcement, as both the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") recovered well over $2 billion in penalties in over 50 combined actions. The SEC and DOJ also made new policy pronouncements about corporate cooperation and individual accountability, and the SEC entered into its first ever Deferred Prosecution Agreement ("DPA") with an individual. Corporate monitors were imposed in a number of cases where companies did not voluntarily self report or timely remediate, a link noted this year by the SEC FCPA Unit Chief, Kara Brockmeyer.¹ While the focus of a new administration in 2017 will be closely followed, it is expected that aggressive enforcement of FCPA violations will continue unabated.