The year 2016 ushered in a flurry of activity in global anti-corruption and US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement. After 2015, when the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought their lowest number of enforcement actions in a decade, 2016 not only saw the largest number and highest dollar-value of FCPA corporate enforcement actions in a single year, but reflected the impact of new policy directions as well. In 2015, the agencies instituted a combined total of 23 FCPA-related enforcement actions, 11 by the DOJ, and 12 by the SEC, accounting for a total of US $142.7 million in monetary sanctions. In contrast, 2016 saw 37 SEC and 24 DOJ enforcement actions resulting in US $2.43 billion in monetary penalties (including disgorgement) to be paid to the federal Treasury. The 2016 numbers were not just the result of a few, “blockbuster” matters as has occurred in some prior years, but instead a larger number of all types of settlements: large matters imposing monetary sanctions running into the hundreds of millions of dollars; prosecutions of individuals; and a number of smaller resolutions by the SEC where the DOJ either would not or could not prosecute. This increase in FCPA activity spilled into the first weeks of 2017 as well, with several corporate and individual enforcement actions announced just after the new year. For more information, please see our advisory.
