Trump Pauses FCPA Investigations and Enforcement for Review
Ever since it was passed in 1977, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) makes it illegal for companies operating in the United States to offer, pay, or promise to pay money to foreign officials to secure business deals. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump paused enforcement on the law, claiming that the FCPA creates “an uneven playing field” for U.S. companies operating in countries where bribing officials is a matter of course.
The executive order, “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security,” claims that “overexpansive and unpredictable FCPA enforcement against American citizens and businesses—by our own Government—for routine business practices in other nations not only wastes limited prosecutorial resources that could be dedicated to preserving American freedoms, but actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security.”
The EO pauses FCPA investigations for 180 days while Attorney General Pam Bondi reviews the guidelines and policies governing FCPA enforcement actions. During this period, no new FCPA investigations or enforcement actions will be initiated without an exception from the attorney general. The Trump administration also said it would review existing investigations, aiming to “restore proper bounds” on the FCPA.
The FCPA is enforced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which have leveraged it heavily in the past 20 years to crack down on bribery. Civil and criminal penalties have stretched into millions of dollars, as well as prison time for convicted individuals, The New York Times reported.
In 2024, there were 26 FCPA enforcement actions, including major court cases involving commodities trading company Gunvor S.A, software company SAP SE, and McKinsey & Company Africa Ltd. In 2020, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay more than $2.9 billion to resolve charges that employees in Malaysia had paid $1 billion in bribes.
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Transparency International warned that “clipping the wings of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) enforcement of the FCPA delivers a major blow to the fight against foreign bribery worldwide. It risks undermining decades of progress in tackling cross-border corruption and puts international stability at risk. This pause will work to the advantage of unscrupulous business actors around the world who until now feared U.S. criminal pursuits.”
Legal experts noted that the real impact of the FCPA is the law’s deterrent effect—the fear of severe punishment deters businesses from even thinking about bribes, the Associated Press explained. Undercutting bribery culture also disincentivizes corrupt practices that enable cartels and terrorist groups to take root and thrive. This element of the FCPA might not be completely undercut.
In a 5 February memorandum, Bondi outlined a novel approach to FCPA enforcement, appearing to assure non-violent FCPA offenders that they shouldn’t be concerned about prosecution. Instead, the memo directs the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit to “prioritize investigations related to foreign bribery that facilitates the criminal operations of Cartels and [transnational criminal organizations] and shift focus away from investigations and cases that do not involve such a connection.”
In an advisory, The National Law Review explained, “While the use of the FCPA against Cartels and TCOs is salutary, the Attorney General's statement assuring other offenders that they are not likely to be criminally investigated or prosecuted is, at the very least, unconventional.
“Regardless, no one should assume they may violate the FCPA with impunity,” the advisory continued. “The statute of limitations for criminal prosecution under the FCPA is five years for corrupt payments, and six years for violation of the books and records and internal controls provisions. An FCPA violation in 2025 is therefore subject to criminal prosecution at least until 2030, by which time a different president, possibly one with different priorities, will be in the White House.”
In addition, legal experts warned that the United States isn’t the only nation with anti-corruption provisions, the Times reported. Forty countries have adopted antibribery laws based on the FCPA.
But the AP noted that the change could “tarnish America’s image, allow corrupt autocrats ruling over impoverished people to get even richer and lead France, Britain, Japan, and other wealthy countries to weaken their own anti-bribery laws so their companies can make payments, too.”
