Global Anti-Corruption Insights: Winter 2025

Enforcement of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) held steady in 2024. The Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into FCPA settlements with eight companies, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) entered into settlements with six — four in parallel with DOJ. The monetary sanctions in these corporate cases ranged from $1.5 million to $661 million. All in all, U.S. authorities imposed over $1 billion in FCPA sanctions in 2024.

On the individual enforcement front, DOJ obtained four convictions at trial, eight guilty pleas, and at least a dozen new indictments in FCPA-related cases this past year. Meanwhile, the SEC brought its first FCPA case against an individual since 2021.

Although President-elect Donald Trump criticized the FCPA back in 2012 before holding elected office, during his first administration, DOJ reached some of the largest-ever FCPA settlements, with both U.S. and foreign companies. We will be watching how the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws fit into the new administration’s federal law enforcement priorities.

DOJ and SEC Impose Over $1 Billion in Monetary Sanctions Under FCPA in 2024

The following companies entered into FCPA settlements with U.S. authorities this past year:¹

Some interesting observations from these corporate enforcement actions include:

• Monitorship requirement: DOJ and SEC required Raytheon and its parent company, RTX, to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years, marking the first time since 2022 that an FCPA settlement was conditioned on a monitorship. Raytheon’s deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ also encompassed related violations of export control laws, highlighting the legal risks faced by defense contractors and other companies exporting sensitive technology.
• Improper payments taking many forms: The SEC charged publicly traded Deere & Co. (also known as John Deere) with FCPA violations involving bribes of not only cash and international travel, but also massage parlor visits for Thai government officials and private company employees.
• Continued international coordination: U.S. authorities coordinated the resolution of multiple FCPA cases with South Africa this past year. In addition, DOJ, working with Swiss authorities, coordinated its first-ever resolution of an FCPA case with Ecuador.
• Risks for management consulting firms doing business with foreign governments —and potential benefits of self-reporting misconduct: DOJ’s cases against management consulting firms were not limited to the $122 million deferred prosecution agreement with a subsidiary of McKinsey & Co. Separately, DOJ obtained disgorgement of certain profits from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) — though declined to take further enforcement action against the company. On August 27, 2024, DOJ sent BCG a declination letter under the department’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, stating that it would not prosecute BCG for self-reported FCPA violations, despite “evidence that from in or about 2011 until in or about 2017, BCG, through its Lisbon, Portugal office, paid its agent in Angola the equivalent of approximately $4.3 million in commissions to help BCG obtain business with agencies of the Angolan Government.”

DOJ Wins Four Trials Against Individuals in FCPA-Related Cases

In 2024, DOJ scored four victories at trial in FCPA-related cases that exemplify the continuing use of money laundering statutes to combat international corruption. The prosecutions ensnared both the payors and recipients of bribes.

• On September 26, a federal jury in Connecticut convicted former energy trader Glenn Oztemel on FCPA and money laundering charges in connection with bribes paid to Brazilian officials to win business from Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company. Earlier in the year, Glenn’s brother Gary pleaded guilty to a related money laundering charge.
• On August 8, 2024, a federal jury in New York convicted Manuel Chang, the former Finance Minister of Mozambique, of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a bribery scheme that involved false statements to banks and investors, including in the United States, about loan proceeds intended for companies owned and controlled by the Mozambican government.
• On April 23, 2024, a federal jury in Miami convicted Carlos Polit, the former Comptroller General of Ecuador, of conspiracy to commit money laundering, concealment money laundering, and engaging in transactions in criminally derived property related to an international bribery and money laundering scheme. He was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• On February 23, 2024, a federal jury in New York convicted Javier Aguilar, a former trader at the U.S. affiliate of energy trading company Vitol, Inc., on FCPA and money laundering charges related to bribery of officials at Petroecuador and at a subsidiary of Mexico’s state oil-and-gas company, PEMEX. Aguilar subsequently pleaded guilty in another federal case in the Southern District of Texas concerning alleged corruption of Mexican officials.

DOJ has not yet announced any prosecutions under the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act of 2023, which made it a federal crime in the United States for a foreign official to demand or take a bribe from certain individuals and entities.

DOJ and SEC Bring FCPA Charges Against Individuals Accused of Participating in Massive Bribery Scheme To Win Business in India

On November 20, 2024, DOJ and SEC announced FCPA and other charges against a group of individuals for their alleged roles in promising more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials in exchange for solar energy contracts. The billionaire chairman of the Adani Group and other senior executives are facing criminal securities and wire fraud charges related to the scheme. According to DOJ, these individuals misrepresented Adani Green Energy’s anti-bribery and corruption practices and concealed bribery from U.S. investors and international financial institutions in order to obtain financing. For its part, the SEC filed charges against three individuals implicated in the scheme, including Cyril Cabanes, a former director of India-based Azure Power Global Limited, who faces both criminal and civil FCPA charges for allegedly facilitating the authorization of bribes to secure multi-billion-dollar projects for Azure and Adani Green Energy while in the United States and abroad. The SEC’s case against Cabanes marks the first time in over three years that the SEC has charged an individual with violating the FCPA.

DOJ Updates Guidance on Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs To Address Artificial Intelligence

In September 2024, DOJ released an updated version of its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP). The ECCP guidance contains new language about managing risks associated with new and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI); encouraging employees to speak up and report misconduct through whistleblower protections; empowering compliance programs with appropriate access to data; and incorporating lessons learned into compliance programs and training. 

DOJ is not requiring companies to use AI. But DOJ is encouraging companies that use AI to take steps to ensure the use of AI complies with applicable law. Newly added ECCP questions related to AI include, for example: 

• How does the company assess the potential impact of new technologies, such as AI, on its ability to comply with criminal laws?
• Is management of risks related to use of AI and other new technologies integrated into broader enterprise risk management strategies?
• What is the company’s approach to governance regarding the use of new technologies, such as AI in its commercial business and in its compliance program?
• To the extent that the company uses AI and similar technologies in its business or as part of its compliance program, are controls in place to monitor and ensure its trustworthiness, reliability, and use in compliance with applicable law and the company’s code of conduct?
• Do controls exist to ensure that the technology is used only for its intended purposes?
• What baseline of human decision-making is used to assess AI?
• How is accountability over use of AI monitored and enforced?

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Please refer to Arnold & Porter’s Summer 2024 Global Anti-Corruption Insights Newsletter for more on developments from the first half of 2024, including:

Prosecutions of a U.S. senator and U.S. congressman for participation in international bribery schemes

• DOJ’s string of FCPA cases against commodities trading firms and associated individuals
• DOJ’s new programs to encourage individuals to report corporate misconduct
• U.S. Supreme Court restrictions on federal prosecutions for “gratuities” to local, state, and international organization officials receiving federal funds
• U.S. Supreme Court restrictions on the SEC’s ability to enforce certain securities laws through administrative proceedings

© Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 2025 All Rights Reserved. This Newsletter is intended to be a general summary of the law and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.