I'm Not Going to Disneyland

Illusory Affirmative Defenses Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Article posted on 05 Feb 2012

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Summary: This report from Kyle Sheahen analyzes the two affirmative defenses provided by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and argues that the defenses are virtually useless in practice. Recent restrictive judicial interpretation, developing international business customs and the statutory language itself have rendered the defenses – the local law defense and the promotional expenses defense – meaningless for FCPA defendants at trial. This article describes the problems with the defenses and suggests that Congress modify existing law to allow for greater fairness in FCPA prosecutions. Reproduced with permission from Kyle Sheahen & the Wisconsin International Law Journal.

Topics: Corruption FCPA US DoJ