Bribery

Fraud Files: FCPA Enforcement Will Continue to Be Costly

For decades, U.S. companies doing business overseas have had to avoid falling afoul of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits the bribing of foreign officials. But in the past few years, such corporate misbehavior is receiving more attention and increased enforcement, which is making executives nervous.

Shell, Panalpina and 5 Others Fined $236.5 Million for Bribes

Seven companies involved in the oil and gas industries will pay the U.S. government a total of $236.5 million to settle corruption charges. An investigation by the SEC and the Justice Department alleges that the companies bribed overseas officials to lower customs duties, extend drilling contacts and streamline the permit process for oil drilling.

Pharmas Probed Over Foreign Bribery Allegations

Federal investigators are looking into allegations that major drug companies, including Merck, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline, paid bribes overseas to boost sales and accelerate approvals.

Philly Scandal Puts Spotlight on Public Housing's Problems

Carl Greene ran the Philadelphia Housing Authority for years with little oversight, until recent revelations about a series of scandals from sexual harassment to financial mismanagement landed him in hot water. But Greene's misdeeds may be just a symptom of the problematic culture of U.S. housing authorities.

HP Bribery Probe Intensifies

The Justice Department, which has been investigating bribes Hewlett-Packard allegedly paid in Russia, has asked the company to voluntarily turn over internal records.

Fraud Files: Feds Crack Down on Overseas Bribes

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for companies to pay foreign officials to get or retain business, and the U.S. government has been stepping up FCPA enforcement actions: More than three times as many FCPA cases were brought in 2009 than were filed in 2005.

Legal Briefing: DOJ Gets Tougher on Foreign Bribery

A dedicated team of prosecutors will be going after large-scale foreign corruption, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Sunday. Main Justice reports this effort comes on top of the stepped-up prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Legal Briefing: DOJ May Sue to Block Ariz. Immigration Law

The Department of Justice may file suit Tuesday over Arizona's controversial immigration law, but if the lawsuit is crafted as has been rumored, it will frustrate all sides in the debate, because it avoids the merits of the law and focuses instead on Arizona's lack of authority to enact it.

Casino Jack Abramoff Pitching Pizza in Baltimore

Freshly sprung from a minimum-security prison after completing most of a four-year sentence for fraud, tax evasion, and bribing public officials, former lobbyist Jack Abramoff now lives in a halfway house and toils in the back office at Tov Pizza, a kosher pizzeria in Baltimore.

Will Fergie Recover from Latest Scandal?

Many in the press have begun writing Sarah Ferguson's obituary as a public figure. Yet, in the decades that she has spent in the public eye, one constant has remained: the former princess is a survivor, with an amazing ability to reinvent herself.

The World Bank has banned British book publisher Macmillan from receiving any Bank-financed contracts between now and 2016, as a result of bribes Macmillan paid to secure a textbook deal in South Sudan.

HP's Russia Scandal: A Little Bribery Never Hurt Anybody

While the U.S. government sniffs around at Hewlett-Packard's allegedly shady dealings in Russia, Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron argues that in some places, bribery can be a good thing, and says the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act only handicaps U.S. companies while doing nothing to prevent corruption.

Legal Briefing: HP May Have Bribed Russians

On Thursday, after two years of inquiries by the German government, the U.S. Justice Department and SEC opened investigations into whether Hewlett-Packard bribed Russian officials to win a contract with Russia's top criminal prosecuting agency.

Daimler Agrees to Settle a U.S. Bribery Case

The German automaker has agreed to pay a $185 million settlement in the case, in which it's accused of funneling tens of millions of dollars to a number of foreign governments in exchange for their business. An April 1 court hearing has been scheduled.