International Regulatory Enforcement (PHIRE)

A New Enforcement Agency Joins the World of International Corruption Enforcement

January 24, 2017

Thomas A. Zaccaro, Nicolas Morgan & Kyle M. Jones

Historically, enforcement of violations of the FCPA has been the exclusive domain of the DOJ and the SEC. In the past few years, that paradigm has shifted, with numerous countries beginning to enforce their own anti-corruption laws and increasing the risks for companies operating globally. Companies now have another enforcement agency for which to prepare: on March 6, 2019, the CFTC announced its foray into the world of enforcement of foreign bribery violations and adopted a standard well familiar to FCPA practitioners in determining under what circumstances the CFTC may decline to impose civil penalties for foreign corrupt practices: self-report, cooperate, and remediate.

• The Advisory signals increased cooperation between the CFTC and DOJ going forward on foreign corruption issues.

• Additional entities may be subject to increased exposure to potential foreign-corruption related penalties.

• Commodities market participants should examine compliance programs to assess their potential exposure.

For additional information, please see our client alert.