Whats Considered a Violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?
Times are tight—that pretty much seems to be the case across the board. We have all heard the old adage, “You’ve got to spend money to make money.” While I firmly believe this is true, there is a right way to spend money, and then there’s the way to spend money that lands you in a federal prison for a really, really LONG time. That would be spending money in any way that violates the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). I was speaking at an event recently where a member of the audience asked about the FCPA, and what Virginia companies should do if they are in a situation where they are strongly urged to “facilitate” business in foreign countries by paying additional “fees”, essentially bribes and kickbacks, in order to secure sales there. Emphatically, I said, “Don’t do it!” If a company must do such things in order to compete in a foreign market, then that company should consider a) not doing business in that market or b) not doing business with that partner/company in that foreign c
