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Navigating Turbulent FCPA Waters

BY Joseph F. Savage, Jr.
February 27, 2013

In February 2010, Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Larry A. Breuer appeared at the ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime and heralded 2009 as “the most dynamic single year in the more than 30 years since the FCPA [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)] was enacted.” Riding the wave of the so-called “Catch-22″ sting arrests in United States v. Goncalves et al., No. 09-cr-00335 (D.D.C.), he promised even more aggressive FCPA enforcement in 2010. Since then, all has not gone smoothly. Indeed, in 2012, the number of FCPA cases declined for the second straight year and total recoveries slid again as well.

Bumps in the Road

In addition to declining case loads, the bumps in the road for regulators in the cases actually pursued have been real. An early example came in January 2012, when the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas entered a directed verdict acquitting John O'Shea, an executive of a Texas-based subsidiary of a Swiss company, on 12 substantive FCPA violations arising out of allegedly corrupt dealings with officials of Mexico's Comisi'n Federal de Electricidad. United States v. O'Shea, No. H-09-cr-00629, Order on Acquittal (S.D. Tex. Jan. 17, 2012). A few weeks later, the court granted the Government's motion to dismiss with prejudice the remaining counts. United States v. O'Shea, No. 4-09-cr-00629, Final Dismissal (S.D. Tex. Feb. 9, 2012).

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