This installment of MoFo's Top Ten International Anti-Corruption Developments highlights important Department of Justice (DOJ) personnel changes, an increase in government resources being dedicated to FCPA enforcement efforts, new enforcement efforts, and developments in ongoing cases that have dominated the headlines in 2014. We summarize below some of the most important international anti-corruption developments in the past month with links to primary resources, as an overview for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals. Here is our January 2015 Top Ten list:

1. 2015 Brings Personnel Changes in Key DOJ Positions:

Andrew Weissmann to lead DOJ Fraud Section. It was announced in early January that Andrew Weissmann, who most recently served on the faculty of NYU School of Law, is returning to government service. He previously held numerous government positions, including serving as the FBI's general counsel under former Director Robert S. Mueller, as deputy director and then director of the Enron Task Force from 2002 through 2005, and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York for 15 years, where he was the Chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office's Criminal Division. As head of the Enron Task Force, Weissmann oversaw the investigations and prosecutions of more than 30 individuals, including Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay, and Andrew Fastow. He is a recipient of the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service in 2006 and Director's Awards for Superior Performance in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2000. Interestingly, while in private practice, Weissmann worked for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, authoring an amicus brief1 and an article 2 challenging the current corporate criminal liability standard in the United States and advocating for changes to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in Restoring Balance: Proposed Amendments to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 3

Weissmann's approach to these issues in practice remains to be seen, though our impression is that, given his reputation as a zealous advocate on behalf of his clients (both in the private and public sector), we believe his approach to corporate criminal enforcement will be more aligned with his Enron Task Force days when his client was the United States (as it will be now) and less aligned with his U.S. Chamber days. In the meantime, he joins an increasingly large group of former Brooklyn prosecutors at the Criminal Division, including new Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell and her deputies Marshall Miller and Sung-Hee Suh, who will surely leave their mark on the Criminal Division and its many sections, including the Fraud Section. And of course, the likely new Attorney General, Loretta E. Lynch, is currently the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, a position she has held since 2010, and previously held from 1999 – 2001.

Three New FCPA Assistant Chiefs Appointed. DOJ named three new Assistant Chiefs in the FCPA Unit of the Fraud Section at the end of December in the wake of Jason Jones departing for private practice in January. Those who follow this space closely will know that the FCPA Unit's Assistant Chiefs handle their own portfolio of cases and play an important role in managing cases, overseeing investigations, recommending declinations, and resolving negotiations. In 2008, the FCPA Unit went from one deputy chief and one assistant chief to a deputy chief and two assistant chiefs. Now, in 2015, the FCPA Unit has veteran prosecutor Patrick Stokes as the deputy chief and five assistant chiefs, including Daniel Kahn, Matthew Queler, and these three newly appointed assistant chiefs:

  • Tarek Helou joined the FCPA unit in 2012 as a Trial Attorney after serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California for nearly five years. Helou has been involved in the prosecution, among others, of Frederic Cilins for obstruction, arising from an investigation into corruption related to securing an iron ore concession in Guinea, and Joseph Sigelman and other former PetroTiger executives, arising from bribery allegations in Colombia. Helou was previously a litigation associate for nearly six years in San Francisco. He received his law degree from New York University School of Law.
  • Laura Perkins is a Fraud Section veteran joining in 2006. Perkins rose through the ranks to become a Senior Trial Attorney in the Fraud Section before her recent appointment to Assistant Chief. Perkins just recently completed a stint in the Criminal Division's Front Office working with AAG Caldwell and her team, a coveted policy job often associated with later promotions, such as happened in this case. Perkins has prosecuted numerous FCPA cases, including Avon, Paul Novak (the former Willbros consultant), Bilfinger, and Armor Holdings. Perkins' series of promotions in the wake of the ill-fated Africa Sting case reflects the respect that she enjoys within the Fraud Section and the Criminal Division more broadly. Perkins was previously a litigation associate for six years in D.C. She received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
  • Leo Tsao first joined the Fraud Section in 2013 to join the BP Deepwater Horizon Task Force, eventually becoming one of the lead prosecutors of Kurt Mix, a former engineer for BP, whose December 2013 conviction for destroying evidence was overturned in June 2014 for alleged juror misconduct. That decision is now on appeal before the Fifth Circuit. Tsao is leading the prosecution of Dimitrij Harder, former owner of the Chestnut Group, for FCPA violations (see item number three below), among other cases. Tsao was previously a litigation associate and of counsel in private practice for a number of years before joining DOJ. He received his law degree from Cornell University Law School.

2. FBI Triples the Number of Agents Devoted to FCPA Enforcement. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that the FBI will be increasing the number of agents tasked with FCPA enforcement from 10 to 30. In addition to focusing their efforts on executives who bribe foreign officials, the agents will also help other nations recoup funds paid to corrupt officials. FBI assistant director Joseph Campbell noted that "the growing global economy and the growing nature of international commerce with globalization of more companies and economies" creates more opportunities for FCPA violations and global corruption. The agents will work out of field offices in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, and Boston and will be supported by forensic analysts and other specialists located in Washington, D.C. DOJ expects that these additional resources will allow it to proactively investigate more companies, rather than primarily waiting for the companies to report violations.

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Footnotes

1 Brief for the Association of Corporate Counsel, United States v. Ionia, No. 07-5801-CR (2d Cir. 2008) available at https://www.nacdl.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=21983&libID=21953 .

2 A. Weissmann, R. Ziegler, L. McLoughlin & J. McFadden, "Reforming Corporate Criminal Liability to Promote Responsible Corporate Behavior" U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (Oct. 2008) available at http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/uploads/sites/1/WeissmannPaper.pdf .

3 A. Weissmann and A. Smith, "Restoring Balance: Proposed Amendments to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (Oct. 2010) available at http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/uploads/sites/1/restoringbalance_fcpa.pdf .

Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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