I'm Not Going to Disneyland: Illusory Affirmative Defenses Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
31 Pages Posted: 12 Aug 2010 Last revised: 13 Aug 2010
Date Written: August 11, 2010
Abstract
This article 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.
Keywords: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FCPA, corruption, bribery, affirmative defenses, local law defense, promotional expenses defense, Department of Justice
JEL Classification: K00, K22, K33, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation