About Seymour Mansfield, Esq.

Don’t Mess Around with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

In the 1970s, a popular television show's jingle warned not to "mess around with Jim." If corporate counsel today were to resort to jingles to reinforce warnings to their clients, a plea not to "mess around" with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) would definitely be in order. Enacted in 1977, the FCPA makes it a crime for U.S. companies to "bribe" (i.e., give or offer value for corrupt purposes) any foreign government official in order to secure business. For nearly three decades, that …