For clues about global enforcement today, look to anti-corruption history

President Jimmy Carter signed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act into law in December 1977 (photo courtesy of Carter archives)The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention was signed in Paris in December 1997 and prohibited a specific form of active bribery: that of foreign public officials in international business transactions. 

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Cooperation and competition among enforcing countries

New scholarship from Elizabeth Spahn tackles the opportunities and risks behind the new trend of multi-national antibribery enforcement.

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There Are No 'Good Bribes'

There's a wonderful article in the May 14 edition of the New Yorker by James Surowieck about foreign bribery, the FCPA, and so-called 'good bribes.'

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Letter From Africa: Resignation Is Not Acceptance

Elizabeth Spahn's post yesterday -- Is Bribery Acceptable To People Abroad? -- elicited this thoughtful comment:

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Is Bribery Acceptable To People Abroad?

What do people abroad really think about bribery? Do the people of Mexico, for example, agree with claims that bribery is ok there because it’s the local custom?

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Repeal the Facilitation Payment Loophole

The Walmart de Mexico case highlights the dangers of the facilitation payment loophole in the FCPA. Hiding bribes inside this U.S. loophole is no longer a legally sound strategy in the global enforcement environment.

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'So What?' Bribes Destroy Market Capitalism. That's what.

Tim Worstall, contributor to Forbes and Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute in London, said out loud what some others still think and say privately. Writing about the recent Walmart Mexico scandal, Worstall said “So What?"

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Lessons From The Slave Trade

Professor Elizabeth Spahn's new scholarship on competing enforcement of antibribery laws has just been published.

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Don't Look For 'New' Guidance, Koehler Says

Mike Koehler of the FCPA Professor talked to Reuters' Brett Wolf this week about the DOJ's promised FCPA guidance.

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Amend The FCPA Or Leave It Alone? Game On

A powerful, detailed rebuttal to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s proposals to amend the U.S. FCPA launched this month. Professorial powerhouses David Kennedy (Harvard Law School) and Dan Danielsen (Northeastern School of Law) issued their 84 page analysis, Busting Bribery: Sustaining the Global Momentum of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

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