The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Update 2012
Book Details
Author(s)Jason Poulos, George Smith
PublisherExecSense
ISBN / ASINB00B92QUAC
ISBN-13978B00B92QUA3
Sales Rank2,472,362
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
About the eBook
From Bonds to Clemens to McGwire, many of baseball’s giants climbed the ladder of success and fell back down again amidst allegations of illegal steroid use. What may have seemed like a fast way to get ahead turned into a quick way to be embarrassed and vilified. Likewise, many corporate giants desiring to do work in or with foreign countries historically have used another form of cheating—bribing foreign officials—to outscore their competitors. The Department of Justice (“DOJâ€) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SECâ€) are working to level the playing field, however, by utilizing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA†or “Actâ€) to severely punish corporations and their employees for bribing foreign officials to gain preferential treatment. The number of FCPA prosecutions has dramatically increased in recent years, forcing corporations around the world to make conscious decisions to self-regulate their own methods of doing business.
However, it is not only the corporate giants who are being targeted by the DOJ and SEC. Indeed, the first wave of government attacks under the thirty-five-year-old act—the easy kills—is waning. The next phase promises to include medium- and smaller-sized entities and individuals who are now on solid notice that they had better get their houses in order. At the same time, the authorities have created a prescribed series of sometimes complex requirements a company should institute to accomplish that task. This article proposes to highlight recent FCPA prosecutions, to demonstrate the act’s broad enforcement and rigorous penalties, and to provide tips on achieving compliance and avoiding prosecution.
About the Author: George Anthony Smith, Esq. & Jason N. Poulos, Esq., Attorneys, Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn, & Dial
George Smith (partner) concentrates his practice in construction litigation. He has substantial experience in construction contract negotiation, arbitration and litigation, both domestically and internationally. In recent years, Smith has focused on major power plant and other infrastructure projects. He has also published and presented studies and papers on many topics of interest and concern to the international arbitration community. Smith is a lead trial attorney in many large, complex, multi-party disputes, representing a wide variety of clients including owners, EPC contractors, general contractors, architects/engineers, subcontractors, sureties, and insurers. Smith served as an advocate or arbitrator for cases throughout the U.S. and internationally in the United Kingdom, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, among other regions. He is also experienced in various ADR procedures, including mediation, mini-trials, Dispute Review Boards, and others.
Jason Poulos (of counsel) has over fifteen years of compliance and commercial litigation experience—five years at one of the two largest law firms in Atlanta, ten-plus years in-house at an Atlanta-based global manufacturer of building products, consumer products, business papers, and chemical products (former Fortune 100 entity, now a private holding of the second largest private company in the world). Poulos has significant experience in the German-speaking countries, and is fluent in the language. In addition, his undergraduate degree in accounting and related experience practicing accounting at another Atlanta-based Fortune 100 company prior to law school uniquely situate him for both corporate compliance and complex commercial litigation matters.
From Bonds to Clemens to McGwire, many of baseball’s giants climbed the ladder of success and fell back down again amidst allegations of illegal steroid use. What may have seemed like a fast way to get ahead turned into a quick way to be embarrassed and vilified. Likewise, many corporate giants desiring to do work in or with foreign countries historically have used another form of cheating—bribing foreign officials—to outscore their competitors. The Department of Justice (“DOJâ€) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SECâ€) are working to level the playing field, however, by utilizing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA†or “Actâ€) to severely punish corporations and their employees for bribing foreign officials to gain preferential treatment. The number of FCPA prosecutions has dramatically increased in recent years, forcing corporations around the world to make conscious decisions to self-regulate their own methods of doing business.
However, it is not only the corporate giants who are being targeted by the DOJ and SEC. Indeed, the first wave of government attacks under the thirty-five-year-old act—the easy kills—is waning. The next phase promises to include medium- and smaller-sized entities and individuals who are now on solid notice that they had better get their houses in order. At the same time, the authorities have created a prescribed series of sometimes complex requirements a company should institute to accomplish that task. This article proposes to highlight recent FCPA prosecutions, to demonstrate the act’s broad enforcement and rigorous penalties, and to provide tips on achieving compliance and avoiding prosecution.
About the Author: George Anthony Smith, Esq. & Jason N. Poulos, Esq., Attorneys, Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn, & Dial
George Smith (partner) concentrates his practice in construction litigation. He has substantial experience in construction contract negotiation, arbitration and litigation, both domestically and internationally. In recent years, Smith has focused on major power plant and other infrastructure projects. He has also published and presented studies and papers on many topics of interest and concern to the international arbitration community. Smith is a lead trial attorney in many large, complex, multi-party disputes, representing a wide variety of clients including owners, EPC contractors, general contractors, architects/engineers, subcontractors, sureties, and insurers. Smith served as an advocate or arbitrator for cases throughout the U.S. and internationally in the United Kingdom, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, among other regions. He is also experienced in various ADR procedures, including mediation, mini-trials, Dispute Review Boards, and others.
Jason Poulos (of counsel) has over fifteen years of compliance and commercial litigation experience—five years at one of the two largest law firms in Atlanta, ten-plus years in-house at an Atlanta-based global manufacturer of building products, consumer products, business papers, and chemical products (former Fortune 100 entity, now a private holding of the second largest private company in the world). Poulos has significant experience in the German-speaking countries, and is fluent in the language. In addition, his undergraduate degree in accounting and related experience practicing accounting at another Atlanta-based Fortune 100 company prior to law school uniquely situate him for both corporate compliance and complex commercial litigation matters.
