FCPA Enforcement: The Rules Shift Again — And This Time, the Shift Is Structural
The June 2025 DOJ memo rewrites FCPA gatekeeping around cartels, US competitiveness, and national security — leaving routine commercial bribery largely unpoliced.
No sooner had we analyzed the US Department of Justice's May 12, 2025, policy shift on white-collar enforcement, another significant update quietly followed. On June 9, 2025, the Department of Justice issued a new memorandum that goes beyond streamlining enforcement—it rewrites the gatekeeping function for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) altogether.
In just four months, FCPA enforcement has moved from temporary political pause to full structural redesign. For international organizations that rely on FCPA activity to inform supplier vetting and risk assessment, the cumulative effect is both immediate and profound.
The June 2025 memo operationalizes the earlier Executive Order and DOJ policy guidance by introducing strict decision criteria that prosecutors must apply before initiating any FCPA investigation. This isn’t simply a shift in how cases are resolved—it’s a narrowing of which cases are even eligible for enforcement consideration.
Going forward, FCPA investigations will focus almost exclusively on cases that meet one or more of the following conditions:
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Topics: Fraud & Corruption
