US Legislation

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) and the Hobbs Act provide for investigation, prosecution and criminal penalties for public corruption, including abuse of office and extortion . The Travel Act criminalises bribery of US government officials and commercial bribery. Money laundering is criminalised by the Money Laundering Control Act . The anti-corruption legal framework is enhanced by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which addresses fraudulent practices in enterprises, ensures accuracy of corporate disclosures, and provides penalties of up to 10 years in prison for retaliation against whistleblowers. The resource extraction rule of the Dodd-Frank Act requires resource extraction companies to disclose any payments exceeding USD 100,000 made to the US or foreign governments. The Act also introduces rewards to whistleblowers for information that leads to a successful enforcement action.

Enforcement of the anti-corruption legislation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is effective, and companies in the US are under increasing pressure to comply with stringent and wide-reaching anti-corruption legislation.

The most widely enforced anti-corruption law in the world is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits US persons and entities from bribing foreign government officials. FCPA Resource Guide and FCPA Compliance Quick Guide can help companies avoid corruption risks abroad and help comply with legislations. The FCPA provides a narrow exception for facilitation payments and for recorded gifts of appropriate, minimal value. Gifts and facilitation payments may violate other anti-corruption laws depending on their value and purpose.

The US has ratified the OECD Convention on Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions (exception for facilitation payments), the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) , the Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Convention against Corruption , the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption , and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime .