When companies take strong steps to foster anticorruption compliance, should they get credit for it if a bribery violation occurs? In the 1980s some lawmakers thought so, and discussed the idea of adding a compliance defense to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Although the idea wasn’t incorporated into a 1988 revision of the FCPA, prior diligence undertaken by an organization is recognized in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
But as the Sentencing Guidelines enter their twentieth year, and FCPA enforcement grows, former top federal prosecutors, general counsel, and law professors alike are saying that companies need better incentives and more assurances.
