Via the wrageblog we came across the following quite interesting post entitled “FCPA Enforcement: Top Ten Trends for 2009.” The list comes from the DOJ’s Mark Mendelsohn at an anti-corruption conference in Frankfurt yesterday that included speakers from the DOJ, SEC, and prosecutors from Germany, the United Kingdom, Jersey and Switzerland.
The Top Ten Trends for 2009:
1. The level of enforcement is at an all-time high and is likely to remain there.
2. Prosecuting senior company executives in their individual capacities will be a priority.
3. The US will investigate US and foreign issuers equally, as well as companies operating with US territory.
4. Multi-jurisdictional investigations are on the rise.
5. Informal international cooperation will continue to improve, together with increased mutual legal assistance.
6. The DoJ and FBI are committing more resources to FCPA enforcement, including eight full-time, dedicated FBI investigators.
7. The DoJ will coordinate, where appropriate, sector-wide investigations, as it has in the oil and gas, medical devices and freight forwarding industries.
8. The pace of voluntary disclosures is likely to continue.
9. FCPA due diligence will be a regular feature of mergers and acquisitions and transactional work.
10. Increased enforcement of other crimes, alongside FCPA violations, is expected, including money-laundering, export controls violations and false accounting.
