The United States has elaborate and extensive mechanisms for investigating and prosecuting corrupt practices (SGI 2017). The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) and the Hobbs Act provide for investigation, prosecution and criminal penalties for public corruption, including abuse of office and extortion. The Travel Act criminalizes bribery of US government officials and commercial bribery. Money laundering is criminalized by the Money Laundering Control Act. The anti-corruption legal framework is enhanced by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which addresses fraudulent practices in enterprises, ensures the accuracy of corporate disclosures, and provides penalties of up to 10 years in prison for retaliation against whistleblowers. The Securities and Exchange Commission provides monetary rewards for individuals that leads to FCPA action resulting in recoveries exceeding USD 1 million. The Dodd-Frank Act also introduces rewards to whistleblowers for information that leads to a successful enforcement action. A bill expanding the protections for federal whistleblowers is awaiting the signature of President Trump as of the time of review (AP, Oct. 2017). President Trump scrapped the resource extraction rule of the Dodd-Frank Act that requires resource extraction companies to disclose any payments exceeding USD 100,000 made to the US or foreign governments (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 2017). A report found that individual states have large gaps in their integrity legislation; many state legislators engage in glaring conflicts of interests and relationships with lobbyists without consequence (SPI 2015). Many state watchdogs are understaffed and powerless to enforce laws containing numerous easily exploited loopholes (SPI 2015). US public procurement is well regulated by the Federal Acquisition Regulation that aims to contain corruption risks, and applies to all executive and military departments, and to state-owned companies. It contains provisions on conflicts of interest and increases the use of suspension and debarment on companies guilty of fraud and breach of contract.
The most widely enforced anti-corruption law in the world is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits US persons and entities from bribing foreign government officials. FCPA Resource Guide and FCPA Compliance Quick Guide can help companies avoid corruption risks abroad and help comply with legislation. The FCPA provides a narrow exception for facilitation payments and for recorded gifts of appropriate, minimal value. Gifts and facilitation payments may, however, violate other anti-corruption laws depending on their value and purpose. Under the Justice Department’s new enforcement policy, companies may obtain a settlement provided there is voluntary disclosure of violations, cooperation with the authorities, remediation and, root cause analysis.
The US has ratified the OECD Convention on Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions (exception for facilitation payments), the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Convention against Corruption, the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Enforcement of the anti-corruption legislation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is effective, and companies in the US are under increasing pressure to comply with stringent and wide-reaching anti-corruption legislation (SGI 2017).
