The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, also known as the 'FCPA,' is a U.S. law that prohibits companies and individuals from bribing foreign officials to obtain business contracts.
The FCPA was enacted in 1977 in response to a number of high-profile cases in which U.S. companies had paid bribes to foreign officials in order to obtain business contracts.
The FCPA created two new federal crimes:
- the offer or payment of bribes to foreign officials to obtain or keep business, and
- books and records violations (accounting violations used to disguise bribes).
The FCPA prohibits both U.S. companies and their employees or agents from paying bribes to foreign officials to obtain or keep business. This includes prohibiting companies from providing anything of value to foreign officials in order to obtain or keep business.
The FCPA does not apply to domestic bribery or the bribery of foreign officials by foreign companies unless those foreign companies are listed on US securities exchanges.
The FCPA is jointly enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The SEC has the authority to bring civil enforcement actions against companies that violate the FCPA. The DOJ has the authority to bring criminal prosecutions against companies and individuals that violate the FCPA. Both the SEC and the DOJ can also recover fines and penalties from companies that violate the FCPA.
The FCPA also provides for whistleblower awards. Whistleblowers who provide the SEC with original information about a company's violations of the FCPA can receive a percentage of the fines and penalties that the company pays to the SEC.
The FCPA provides for whistleblower awards of 10 to 30 percent of the fines and penalties paid to the SEC. The amount of the award depends on the extent of the whistleblower's cooperation with the SEC. Whistleblowers who provide the SEC with original information about a company's violations of the FCPA can receive a percentage of the fines and penalties that the company pays to the SEC. The amount of the award depends on the extent of the whistleblower's cooperation with the SEC. Whistleblowers can receive an award even if they are employees of the company that is violating the FCPA.
The SEC has a confidential process for whistleblowers to submit information about possible FCPA violations. Whistleblowers can submit their information online, by mail, or by fax. The SEC also has a program that allows whistleblowers to submit information anonymously.
The SEC has recovered billions of dollars in fines and penalties from companies that have violated the FCPA. The SEC has also paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in whistleblower awards to whistleblowers who have provided information about FCPA violations.
A whistleblower award is a monetary award granted to a whistleblower in recognition of their disclosure of information that leads to the successful enforcement of the law. The amount of the award can be quite substantial.
Whistleblower awards programs are typically created to incentivize whistleblowers to come forward with information that can be used to prosecute companies or individuals that have violated the law. They are also meant to compensate whistleblowers for any losses they may have suffered as a result of coming forward, such as dismissal from their job or retaliation from the individual or company they exposed.
In the United States, for example, the SEC is responsible for granting whistleblower awards to individuals who provide information that leads to the successful enforcement of securities laws, or, as mentioned above, FCPA violations.
The FCPA is a United States federal law that prohibits certain kinds of foreign bribery. The law has been in effect since 1977. The FCPA imposes civil and criminal penalties for companies and individuals who offer, pay, or receive bribes to foreign officials in order to obtain or retain business. The FCPA also prohibits companies from falsifying their books and records to conceal bribes. The FCPA covers all U.S. persons, including companies and individuals, regardless of whether they are in the United States or abroad.